The Beginning as We Know It
by JelissaLark
Summary: In a twist of luck, Kate and Nicole managed to score passes to Playlist Live where the biggest internet personalities meet and mingle. With YouTubers like the adorkable Ethan Harris and devilishly handsome Jordan Banks, things won't run so smoothly. Each YouTuber has an alias. Lemme know if you figure it out. Also: Bertiebertg, omfgitsjackanddean, and others...
1. Prelude

Prelude

 _"So he opens the door, and BAM! A fist collides with his face, leaving a black and blue imprint across his left eye," Harry described complete with hand gestures and sound effects. The crowd had been glued to Harry from the very moment he began his tale. Technically, it wasn't a tale since it was all true, but there were definite exaggerations. "Shouldn't you tone it down before we get kicked out of this establishment?" warned John, his longtime friend._

" _Oh, no worries. You guys are fine," replied a woman with a nametag anxiously awaiting for Harry to continue._

 _Harry smirked over at John who rolled his eyes in response. "Now, where as I?" Harry pondered, stroking his chin, "Oh yeah. So Ethan comes in guns blazing."_

" _Gun's blazing? You guys brought guns into the hotel?" exclaimed someone in the crowd._

" _And which Ethan are you talking about?" interrupted another audience member._

" _The one dating Nicole," answered the girl beside him._

" _Oh, the one with the brother?" the observer asked._

" _No! The other one!" Harry corrected._

" _There's another one?" asked someone from the far left._

" _Yeah, there are two," replied another._

" _And they both dated Nicole?" asked the first guy._

" _Yes, but she broke up with the other Ethan so now she's dating this Ethan," explained another._

" _What?" yelled a voice from the far left._

" _I'm so lost," sighed someone in the back._

 _The crowd then erupted as they tried to fill in each other on what led up to that point. The volume in the pub raised beyond the limit as little arguments sprang up between the listeners. Some were adamantly defending their version of the story while others looked confused and overwhelmed. John closed his eyes; he knew this would spiral out of control. Why he ever let Harry tell this story was a huge mistake on his part._

 _Finally, Harry let out a sharp whistle that returned everyone's attention back onto him. "Settle down!" he demanded. He looked at John to address the crowd. "Since_ some _of us have a tendency to over-elaborate," John shot a look in Harry's direction who smiled and shrugged, "it'd probably be good to add a disclaimer. The following is recount of a story compiled of our own points of view and what we've been told from the people involved in it. Now in order to bring everyone back up to date, and fix some damages a certain storyteller may have caused, let's just start from the beginning," John began as everyone took their seats._


	2. Chapter 1: Touchdown

Chapter One: Touchdown

The Floridian air was an unwelcomed mixture of both heat and humidity, forcing the clothing to bind onto the bodies of their owners. Kate could already feel the sweat forming on her forehead. "I did not come all the way across the country for my hair to end up looking like the bride of Frankenstein," Nicole complained. She heaved her suitcase off of the terminal and checked her hair in a nearby reflection. "Is it too late to go back onto the plane?" asked Kate.

"I don't think so," Nicole answered.

"Good. Let's go back," Kate replied, pulling the suitcase behind her. They walked with the crowd towards the airport lobby. Even with the air conditioning, the summer heat was touching them in ways that should be considered illegal. They sulked behind the sweating crowd in front of them. "Do you even know where we're going?" asked Kate.

"Nope," Nicole shortly responded. Kate sighed. This was going to be some trip.

The crowd thinned out as passengers met up with their relatives awaiting their arrival. Nicole and Kate struggled as they tried to politely push their way through the happily-reunited groups. As they passed by a couple passionately kissing, Nicole couldn't help but make a comment. "Honestly, can't they wait until they get to the hotel or something?" Nicole retorted.

"It's too hot for this," Kate agreed. As the crowd parted, she saw a familiar figure in sunglasses and shorts looking right at them. "Doesn't that guy look a lot like Danny?" she asked Nicole, who was busy trying to readjust her grip on her bags. Nicole glanced at the guy in front of them. "That's cause it is," she casually stated and returned to her bags.

The blond approached them and took off his shades, revealing his light blue eyes. "Glad to see you both made it safely," he greeted.

"I told you that you didn't have to come pick us up," Kate replied, unable to hide the smile growing on her face.

"What kind of gentlemen would I be if I left you guys here? Besides, knowing you, you'd probably just get lost," Danny commented.

"So. True," Nicole agreed, meeting up with them.

"Well it's really good to see you," Kate said as she enveloped him in a hug, "I missed you!"

"Same here," he reciprocated. They pulled away and smiled at each other. "Yeah, it's not like you guys Skype every other day," Nicole commented, hugging him next. Kate laughed. What could she expect? Ever since their last meeting, Kate and Danny had become close friends. After all, he did help them both out of a miserable situation. The least they could do was keep in contact.

He grabbed one of each girl's bags and began leading the way before either of them could protest. Nicole sighed, thankful that her load was lightened. Two bags were a lot easier to manage than three. Kate huffed and walked over to Danny. "I could've carried my own bags," Kate informed, matching him stride by stride. He shrugged. "Well that wouldn't be very gentlemanly of me," Danny replied.

"Ha! More like a gentle _boy_ ," she teased.

"I'm only a year younger than you!" Danny exclaimed.

"Key word: Younger," Kate pointed out.

"Key word: year," Danny corrected.

Once they were at the hotel, Kate said a quick "thank you" to the driver, popped open the trunk, and grabbed her bags. Danny didn't even have a chance to protest. "You can still hold my bags, Danny," Nicole offered sweetly. Danny chuckled as he took two of Nicole's bags. The girls left to go check-in as Danny took this time to finally check his phone. He was bombarded with copious amounts of messages. The group text had blown up with "did you get her yet?" and "what does she look like?" and "send us a bloody picture already!" He gave them a quick update as to where he was at the moment and closed his phone. There was no point in giving them any details; they were going to see her at the welcome party anyways. Plus, they've been driving him crazy these past couple of days- let them suffer.

"So we're at room number 1024," Kate informed, approaching Danny. He quickly placed the phone into his pocket. "Alright, let's go then," he said as he grabbed Nicole's bags again.

"We can take our own things, Danny," Kate reminded him as she handed Nicole her bag. Nicole pouted and rolled her eyes. "Besides, we're going to see you at the welcome party anyways. you should go get ready," said Kate.

"Wait, what party?" asked Nicole. Kate winced. Nicole was never a fan of parties or large group gatherings. She just preferred to stay away from things like that. Convincing her to go was going to be a challenge. But then again, this wouldn't be the first time Kate had to convince Nicole to go somewhere.

Unbeknownst to the girls, they were already being scoped out from afar. The moment Danny's message, "I'm in the lobby with her now. Meet you guys later," was sent, Danny's friends rushed to the elevator to sneak a glance at the girl that had Danny wrapped around her finger. To be fair, it was all Danny's fault in the first place. He had been hyping her up for a year now; so much so, in fact, that they had even dubbed her "Summer" from the movie _500 Days of Summer_. Which meant that Danny was the obsessed "Tom". But hey, if the shoe fits, right?

The elevator doors opened and all four of them piled outside, instantly scanning the surroundings for "Summer". Julian spotted them first. "There's Danny over there!" he informed. They went into stealth-mode formation, shuffling their way towards him without being seen. "I don't see her," whispered Ethan Harris from behind John.

"He's just standing there alone," John replied, "Hold on, are you seriously trying to hide behind me? You're a head taller than I am!"

"Shhh, be a good friend and just accept it," Ethan shushed.

"Quick! Duck!" Harry warned as Danny looked up. They quickly hid behind a column, getting some rather odd looks from the visitors around them.

Harry checked to see if the coast was clear. "Ok, let's go," he signaled with a two-finger point. They crawled their way behind a couch. The crew peered over the sofa one-by-one as the girls arrived beside Danny. "Which one is she?" whispered Julian.

"Well he never really described her before…" answered John from behind him.

"I can't hear a damn thing from back here," complained Harry, beside Julian. But as the boys struggled to deduce which one was Summer, their fellow comrade, Ethan, was in a deep, deep trance. Something had come along that would blow this mission wide open and it's name was Nicole. Dun, dun, DUN!

In fact, the entire lobby had fallen away completely. It was the epitome of tunnel vision- all he could see was this angel before him. Everything about her drew him in. Her hair? Effortless. Her skin? Golden. It was as if Michelangelo painted her himself. He could've sworn there was an aura of heavenly light behind her. He was so enamored by her that he didn't even notice that the others had moved on without him.

"Shit, where the hell is Ethan?" asked John, looking around.

"I'm here!" panted Ethan, scrambling beside them.

"I still don't know which one she is!" complained Julian. Danny hadn't given them any specifics, at least, not on her looks. Nope. All he could talk about was her dumb personality; how smart she was, how she poured a ton of sugar in her tea, how she loved watching Disney movies, blah blah blah. The only lead they had was the fact she sometimes wore glasses. And since neither of these girls were wearing anything, that was a dead end too.

"Isn't it obvious?" sighed Ethan. The guys turned to him, only to find a pair of glazed eyes staring the girls' direction. "What is?" Julian cautiously asked.

"It's the one who looks like a Victoria's Secret Angel," he exhaled. He was instantly met with looks of what can only be described as a mixture of disgust, confusion, and scrutiny. "You drugged him again, didn't you?" John asked, looking in Harry's direction. Harry shook his head. They looked to the two girls talking to Danny. Neither of them fit the term "Victoria's Secret Angel". Their hair was either disheveled or in some sort of bun. Their clothes were anything but revealing. And their faces looked like a far cry from the smiling, freshly made-up models they'd see on the runway. In other words, they looked like they had just gotten off a 5-hour-long airplane ride.

After careful observation from the rest of the guys, they were able to obtain one solid conclusion: Ethan was insane. Harry popped up, tired of merely standing around. It was time for some action around here. "How about we take a closer look?" he announced to the rest of the guys, who stayed behind the couch. They merely looked up at him. They were instantly struck by their fearless leader. Someone had to take charge around here and he seemed to be the only one with the balls to do it. As the four guys made their way towards Danny and the girls, Harry raced forward to make the first contact. "Hey there, buddy. Long time no see!" he greeted as he wrapped his arm around Danny's neck, "How are ya?"

Danny repressed the urge to punch him right then and there. This was not how he planned on Kate meeting them. Granted, he knew it was probably not going to go any better for Harry, but all the other guys would at least have a chance! "You've been gone for hooours," Julian informed. Kate cocked her head, trying to understand exactly who all of these guys were. Both she and Nicole had already met some of Danny's friends, but these guys looked a lot older than the pinner high schoolers from before. "Oh why hello!" greeted Harry, taking his arm off Danny, "And who might you two lovely ladies be?"

The girls exchanged confused looks. Danny sighed. There was no point in trying to hide it anymore. "Kate. Nicole. Harry," introduced Danny, "Harry, Kate and Nicole." Behind him, the rest of the guys sulked slightly. "I thought you said if we introduced ourselves, we'd find out which one's Summer," whispered Julian.

"Minor mishap. We'll find some other way to do it, don't worry," reassured Harry. He turned back to the girls with a plastered-on smile. "Nice to meet you!" he replied. Nicole cocked her eyebrow at him. He was too friendly for comfort. She couldn't help but feel that there was something he was hiding, but on the other hand, she was too jetlagged to care about that right now.

Nicole looked at the other guys around her. They weren't as vocal as Harry, but they gave off that same suspicious vibe. Where did these guys come from anyways? Danny had never mentioned them before, at least not to her. As she looked them over, they took turns to introduce themselves. "I'm John," introduced the floppy haired brunette. There was a slight accent in his speech, but it was too brief for her to catch what it was. But then again, she too busy looking at his eyes to notice anything else. They were magnificent. You couldn't help but be drawn into them. Looking into them made her feel the warmth of a thousand sunsets.

" _Harry," John warned. He looked over to Harry who was leaning towards the crowd. "Looking into them is like gazing into a fresh cup of black tea on a crisp autumn morn," Harry waved his hand, developing an Irish accent. John frowned. "Harrison," he called out. Harry jumped into the crowd and placed his arm around one of the girls. "It's like being held by a strong lumberjack beside the fireplace as he gently strokes your hair. And you know that this night was going to be-," he continued. John jumped, eyes widened. "Harry!" John exclaimed. Harry looked up with feigning innocence. John's mouth remained in a thin line. "I'm just trying to paint a picture," replied Harry. Unfortunately for him, John wasn't falling for it. He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. "Alright, alright, alright," Harry surrendered, returning to his seat._

 _John didn't sit back up until Harry's bum was firmly on the seat. "I'm a storyteller, what do you expect?" Harry explained. John rolled his eyes. "A lumberjack? Honestly," scoffed John._

" _How would you know? You can't see them! You don't know what it's like to gaze into those warm, sensual-" Harry pointed out._

" _No eye color deserved the wild tangent you just went on," interrupted John._

" _It's called being descriptive. And I'll have you know my wild tangents are exactly what made people want to listen to any of this in the first place! People love my excitement!"_

" _Just like Georgiana loved how 'excited' you got at her birthday party?" reminded John. Harry crossed his hands. "That was not my fault," Harry defended_

" _What about Vegas?" John arched his eyebrow. Harry fell silent. He slouched backwards in his seat. "Whatever happened to 'what happens in Vegas ,stays in vegas,' huh?" he muttered. That should hold him off for a bit. Finally, the "storyteller" had shut his seemingly unstoppable mouth. John leaned forward to address the crowd. "I'd like to apologize on Harry's behalf. He can go overboard at times," John apologized to the girl Harry had his arm around. Getting "descriptive" was one thing, but physically bothering people was crossing the line. He was not about to have a repeat of the last person whose personal space Harry invaded. It took them weeks to get that restraining order dismissed._

 _The girl stared into him, nodding aimlessly in response. John smiled, causing her eyes to widen. They remained transfixed on him until he had relaxed back into the chair. When he was far enough away, she leaned over to her friend and whispered, "They really are like a fresh cup of tea." She glanced over at Harry who simply winked. "Anyways, we introduce ourselves. Well, not all of us introduced ourselves, some of us had some trouble getting cohesive words out..." John continued._

John was able to introduce himself rather well. Actually, in Nicole's eyes, he seemed the most normal. He didn't stand out as much as the others, but he seemed more put-together than any of them. She actually wasn't creeped out by him. The last one, on the other hand… The man was standing far too straight. His eyes seemed as if they were glued onto her. There was even a speck of drool pooling at the corner of his slightly opened mouth. "Ethan," John hissed for the third time, elbowing him in the process. "What?" he asked, returning back to reality. Ethan looked around in an attempt to understand the situation.

After a few more seconds of processing, he sharply informed them of his name. "Ethan Harris!" he exclaimed, extending his hand out to Nicole. She eyeballed it, wondering if it'd be safe to touch it. She cautiously shook Ethan's hand, keeping her eyes on the weirdo in front of her. "Alright," she replied, eyeballing him. Ethan quickly withdrew his hand, allowing it to remain straightened at his side. From the far left, Harry smacked his forehead. However, Nicole was still busy assessing Ethan. Never in her life had she ever had that kind of reaction. It was so...odd. All she knew was that she definitely didn't want to be stuck in a room with that guy. Danny cringed. ( _And he thought that Harry's introduction was the worst one…_ ) He had to find a way to change the subject.

"Well now that you've met everyone, I think it's time for them to go. Here, I'll walk you to your room," proposed Danny.

"We all will!" Harry piped up. Danny shot him a glare, but it was too late. Harry had already grabbed Kate's suitcase and began walking towards the elevators. "You really don't have to do that," Kate informed, jogging up to Harry. He shrugged in response. "It's really no big deal. So, tell me about yourself," he not-so-smoothly segwayed.

"Oh um, ok. We started making YouTube videos a while ago. It was a fun thing to do," she began.

"Yeah, yeah, but more about _yourself_ ," corrected Harry.

"Alright, like what?" asked Kate.

"Where do you live?" interrupted Julian.

"Southern California," Kate cautiously answered.

"And you?" John turned to Nicole.

"Same," she replied, eyeing him.

A look of disappointment spread through the guys' faces, but they weren't about to stop there. Giving up was not an option. "So, do you have any siblings?" John asked this time.

"Yeah, I have a little sister," Kate replied. The guys whipped around to Nicole. "How about you?" Harry quickly asked. Nicole looked around her waringly. "Same," she slowly replied. Harry snapped his fingers. So close. By this time, Danny had already begun suspecting something was going on. It was one thing to get to know the girls, but this reeked of suspicious behavior. He watched each of the guys' faces. They were up to something which only meant that impending embarrassment was soon to follow.

The boys were already beginning to run out of questions when they approached the elevators. If they were to finally determine which one was "Summer", they had to make this one count. They only had room for one more question. Who knew when they'd have this chance again?! So Harry dug deep, trying to remember every piece of information Danny ever said. The other guys looked at their leader for some sort of 'Hail Mary' answer. Well, everyone except for Ethan; he was too busy drooling over Nicole, who by the way, was only able to endure it by keeping her back towards him. Harry looked up to see where the elevator was. It had hit the fifth floor and was heading down fast. Time was running out. Finally, in a flash of otherworldly inspiration, the answer came to him. "Sooo," Harry began looking towards Kate, "Just between you and me, are you a boxers or briefs kinda girl?"

" _Now to appreciate the the true ingenuity of this question," Harry began. He brushed off his shirt and smiled smugly at his choice of words. "Or the complete idiocy," John reiterated, but was quickly hushed with Harry's glare into his direction (which he easily rolled his eyes at). Harry cleared his throat._

" _As you all would've guessed, Danny had a habit of leaving any sort of defining detail out of all of his stories about the supposed 'Kate'. The only thing we had to go on was this teeny, little story about the first time they met. It went on like this: Danny was on his way to his mate, when he saw a girl being harassed by this drunk. So Danny, being the distinguished gentlemen he is, jumped in and rescued the maiden," explained Harry._

" _And by 'jumped in and rescued' he means that all Danny did was distract the drunk and ran away with her," corrected John._

 _Harry instantly hushed him. "I'm telling the story, John!" Harry scolded. John put his hands up in surrender and zipped his mouth, but was still unable to hide the growing smile on his face. Harry straightened out his shirt once more._

" _As I was saying," he quickly shot one more glare at John's direction, "Danny rescued her. But she was covered in beer. Now a lady should never roam the streets of London smelling like alcohol. What with all the maniacs nowadays, it's very dangerous. So Danny did the only logical thing and convinced her to back to his place to get changed," Harry continued. Harry covered the side of his mouth with his hand. "That's just trouble with a capital T!" he squeaked in an oddly an American-Southern accent. John shook his head as the audience chuckled in response._

" _Anyways, they went back to his place to dry off. After she showered, she went into his room to change into some clothes because he was busy drying hers. And no, he did not take advantage of her because, as I've stated, he's a perrrfect gentlemen!" Harry exclaimed in that same southern accent, "Apparently, she was quite the naive specimen as she came out wearing his white dress shirt and… wait for it… boxers." A collective gasp echoed throughout the establishment. "You're not serious," one girl whispered._

" _Cross. My. Heart," he swore, "Ask John." They looked to John who simply nodded. With their mouths still open, they returned their attention to their multi-accented storyteller._

" _And I haven't even gotten to the worst part," revealed Harry, leaning forward. Everybody in the audience mirrored his actions. "As they were waiting for the clothes to dry, Kate gets this call from her friend to come back ASAP. And so in her rush," he leaned closer and whispered, "She ran out in his shirt and boxers."_

 _A louder gasp was heard this time. Looks of bewilderment and disbelief exchanged through the crowd as they began talking amongst themselves at the impending embarrassment. Harry pursed his lips and nodded curtly. John hung his head down. This was not how Kate would've liked to have been introduced. "How could you let him ask her this in public?!" exclaimed someone to John. His eyes shot up. "I was just as surprised as you are! How was I supposed to know he was going to say something like that?" he defended himself._

" _It was a good question!" retaliated Harry._

" _Well what was her reply?" inquired a man from the back._

" _Well...after I said that, the guys were pretty much awestruck of my brilliance," Harry began._

" _You mean audacity…" muttered John._

" _Hush, I'm telling the story now!" Harry cut him off. John leaned back in his chair and motioned Harry to go on. "Alright then…."_

Each of the guys' jaws dropped instantly. Nicole's widened eyes peered over in response. Kate furrowed her eyebrows, wondering where in the world this question came from. Thankfully the doors dinged open, providing Danny with the perfect distraction. His eyes popped back into his head as he pulled Harry back and took Kate's bag. "Alright!" he exclaimed, setting the suitcase into the elevator. "How about we just meet up with you two later on at the party?" he proposed. He ushered the girls into the elevator. Kate slowly walked in, racking her head for a reason as to why Harry asked what he did. "Wait, what party?" Nicole asked. Danny slid Nicole's suitcase in, pushed in their floor number, and slid out before the doors closed. "See you later!" he waved.

It was only after the doors clothed that Danny was able to breathe. Potential disaster averted. Behind him, the guys had begun whispering amongst themselves. Danny whipped around, glaring at all of them in the process. His friends instantly shut up. "Seriously?" he asked flatly. They winced, but that didn't lessen the intensity of Danny's glare. "I have one idiot drooling enough to fill the hotel swimming pool and the rest of you are interrogating them like some kind of troubled paparazzi!" he exclaimed.

"We just wanted to get to know them better," mumbled Julian, looking down.

"Well now you've probably traumatized them," Danny said, exasperated. They kept their eyes on the floor. Danny scratched the back of his neck. "Unbelievable," he stated as he walked off. They turned around, watching Danny stride away. After a few more seconds of silence, one of them spoke up. "Do you think he's mad?" asked Harry. They all glared at him, lifted their hands, and smacked him upside the head. He cried out in pain. They scoffed and began walking to their rooms. Harry quickly rubbed the back of his head. "It was just a question!" Harry exclaimed, trying to catch up with them, "Geez, wait for me! Guys! John? Ethan? Julian? Oh, come on!"


	3. Chapter 2: Those Are The Breaks

**CHAPTER 1.5: Those Are The Breaks**

It took the girls about thirty minutes to finally make it down to the party. Heavy thumps reverberated from the lit-up conference room. Nicole allowed the music to sit into her mind. If she had to be here, she was thankful there was at least some sort of decent music available to lessen the pain. There were crowds of Youtubers there- some well-known, others more underground. It seemed as if everyone there had already known each other and were mingling around from group to group. Kate pulled out her phone to contact Danny. He had more experience around these people than they did, so maybe he could introduce her.

One group in particular seemed to be _the_ designated stop for every single YouTuber at the party. They were all dressed stylishly in collared shirts and unique prints. Their laughs were even graceful, and yet their projected this sense of admirable superiority. That was going to be one tough group to get into. Even Nicole had begun to take notice. She began picking out some familiar names: Georgiana Moore, Emerson Jones, Liam Hamilton, etc.

"Ah, yes. The elite YouTubers of Europe. The ones that brought foreign YouTubers into the spotlight. The well-dressed, good-looking, and highly endowed individuals that spend their weeks attending fashion shows, launching beauty products, and being sponsored by some of the biggest companies in the world. To do what? Mention their name in one of their weekly videos to millions of adoring fans. The group that _all_ current YouTubers strive to be like", Nicole paused to turn to Kate and smile, "but will never be." Nicole's face then instantly fell flat into the familiar frown. "I'm going back to the room," reported Nicole.

"Nooo," ushered Kate, "You're only allowed back in the room _after_ you've been here for at least an hour."

"AN HOUR!?"

"At least. So go and talk to people-"

"Not possible", Nicole responded with her arms crossed.

"Dance a little-"

"It's like you don't even know me."

Kate hesitated before saying, "Maybe talk to a couple cute guy Youtubers… Maybe…" Nicole's only response was a stare that became more piercing with every word that came out of Kate's mouth. "Will you at least stay in the room?" sighed Kate. Nicole pondered this for a moment. "Alright," she accepted and began walking towards the back. Kate's mouth turned into a thin line. Now who was she supposed to mingle with?

Thankfully, Kate didn't have to be alone for long. Danny suddenly approached her with a drink in hand. "Hey, where is Nicole going?" he asked as he watched Nicole walk away. They both watched her move past the crowd towards the back wall. Once she hit the wall, she turned around, crossed her arms, and grinned. Kate's head hung down loosely. She should've known. Danny looked at Nicole, confused. He had no idea what was going on, but he learned a long time ago that it was better that way. Danny handed Kate a drink. "Thanks," she sullenly accepted. Danny smiled at her acceptance of defeat; having Kate give up wasn't an easy task. That girl was as stubborn as a bull.

And that's when he noticed something. For the first time in their relationship, he didn't have to worry about some other guy coming over and interrupting them. He was the only person she knew in the room! She literally had nobody else! It was like a huge burden had been lifted from his shoulder. "Hey, I see your friends! Let's go say hi," Kate pointed out. Danny's face fell instantly. "Oh yay," he replied flatly as they walked towards the group of guys.

But while Danny was dealing with his lack of isolation, the boys were busy trying to figure out one remaining problem. "We still don't know which one's which!" reminded Julian as they entered the room. Harry could feel the panic rising within the group. He had to do something or else the harmony within the group would break. It was up to him to-

(" _You're making it seem like you're a superhero or something," scoffed John. Harry raised his hand in response. "Hush, I'm talking," Harry cut him off.)_

Harry stepped in front of guys with his arms up. "Alright, I didn't expect to do this, but it seems as if we have no choice," he said. John raised an eyebrow. "Harry, what are you going to do?" he asked worriedly. Harry sighed, closing his eyes as if he was in deep thought. "I have to use my powers," he stated. Each one of them looked at him in confusion. "Powers?" repeated Julian.

"Oh God," groaned John as he turned away from the impending idiocy that was sure to follow.

"Wait, what powers?" asked Julian

"Please don't-" begged John.

"Julian, I don't know if you know this, but," Harry inhaled, slapped his hand on Julian's shoulder, and looked him dead in the eyes, "I'm psychic."

"Here we go again," remarked John.

"Now I don't pull it out often, because with great power comes great responsibility," said Harry, still looking straight at Julian.

"Those aren't even your words! You got that from Spiderman!" exclaimed John, exasperated. Harry looked over Julian's shoulder just in time to see Kate and Danny on their way over. "Allow me show you," Harry said, tugging at his sleeves.

Danny approached the guys first. If this was going to end up like it did last time, he had to be prepared to block any blows. "Hey," greeted Danny. The group responded with a quick, unified "hello." Harry took a large step forward. "Hello...," he announced. He placed his hands on his temples and squinted at his target, who just looked at him in complete confusion. After a long moment of analyzing, Harry had found his answer. "Kate," he ascertained. He stuck his hand out confidently. "Um…," she looked to Danny for assistance but he was too busy facepalming himself to assist her in any way, "Hi?" Harry's face slowly turned into a grin as Julian's mouth dropped."He did it...he really did it," Julian muttered. He looked around in complete awe as if to ask each of the other guys "Did ya see that? Did ya?" But his friends were too busy wincing to answer his unspoken question.

Kate cocked her head at the extremely odd boy in front of her. "So, KATE," Harry emphasized while wiggling his eyebrows at the still awestruck Julian, "You make YouTube videos?" Kate took a step back towards Danny for safety reasons. "Well, Nicole does most of the work, but yeah, I help out," she replied.

"What kind of videos do you make?" John asked.

"Just whatever we feel like making. Vlogs and whatnot. Sometimes Nicole makes a short film about a trip. Sometimes we have our friend come on and help us. Anything really," she smiled.

"What's your YouTube name?" John asked.

"Thosetwoawkward girls. We really didn't think it through when we named it," she chuckled.

"Well it sound really cool," Julian complimented.

"Thanks," she grinned. It was different getting a compliment from actual YouTubers. They knew the amount of work, time, and thought that goes into each video. Their complements meant more than the usual "oh that's cool". It was nice.

"Yeah yeah, but riddle me this:" Harry interrupted as he got in front of John, "Do you normally mix clothes up or was it a spur of the moment thing?" Once again, every guy's' jaw dropped. Thankfully, Danny was more on the ball this time. "Thirsty? Let's go get some drinks," he said as he took Kate's hand. She tried to turn around to say goodbye to the guys, but was dragged away before she could utter a word. Danny's mission was clear: Get Kate as far away and as quickly away as possible.

As the guys were attempting to recover from Harry's less than tactful question, Ethan finally decided to make his appearance. The guys tried to drag him out with them when they left, but he was adamant in staying behind to decide upon the perfect hairstyle. Ethan grinned cockily as he approached the boys. "Hello, mates," he greeted.

"Well look who decided to finally show up," commented John.

"But it all paid off," Ethan replied as he played with his collar and flashed a grin.

"Yeah, your make-up looks great!" teased Julian. Ethan swatted away Julian's hand from his face. The boys continued their taunts, but Ethan was too focused on the room to pay them any mind. It took him a second, but he finally found her, leaning against the back wall, arms crossed.

Ethan sighed out loud. His friend exchanged confused looks. "You ok there, buddy?" John asked. He followed Ethan's gaze to the object of his affection."Not this again!" John groaned aloud.

"What? What is it?" the others eagerly asked. They scanned the wall on the opposite side of the room. It didn't take them long to find out what caused the stream of drool coming out of Ethan's gaping mouth. "Are you serious?" exclaimed Julian as he stood beside Ethan.

"Her _again_?" retorted Harry, who popped up beside Julian.

"She's so pretty," Ethan thought aloud.

The guys smacked him upside the head. "Hey!" Ethan exclaimed. He then frantically tried to restyle his hair. It had taken him a whole half hour to get it done just right. "Just go talk to her already!" yelled Harry.

"It isn't that simple!" retorted Ethan.

"Yes! It is!" exclaimed Harry, exasperated.

"No it isn't! Danny is one of my best mates. I can't just swoop in and make a move on his girl. He's practically in love with her for crying out loud!" Ethan asserted. Each guy stared at him in awe. Ethan crossed his arms, satisfied with their silence. Finally, they understood his dilemma; it was about time.

And Ethan would've stayed happy with the situation if it wasn't for the guys prolonged stares. "What?" he asked, slowly uncrossing his arms. John took a step forward. He clapped his hand onto Ethan's shoulder and looked him straight in the eyes. "You're an idiot, Ethan," he stated. Ethan took a step back. "What?" he asked, bewildered.

"First off, she isn't _Danny's_ girl. She's her own person," corrected Harry.

"Yeah, she isn't an object," added Julian.

"Gender equality, bro," continued Harry.

"Ok, ok!" interrupted Ethan, "But it still doesn't change anything. I can't just overlook how Danny feels about her!" The guys just stared at him. He was an idiot. A complete idiot. "That isn't Kate, Ethan," informed John.

Ethan froze. "What?" he slowly responded. John pointed towards the cause for Ethan's current unnecessary internal dilemma. "That's not Kate," John repeated. Ethan looked behind John to Harry and Julian who shook their heads. John pointed towards the other side of the room at the brunette conversing with Danny. "That's Kate," he pointed out. Harry and Julian nodded. If you looked close enough, you probably would've been able to see the wheels inside Ethan's head turning as he tried to sort out the rather baffling news. "But...but then...who's she?" Ethan stammered. He looked back at the goddess leaning against the wall. "That's Nicole. Kate's friend," John answered.

"Kate's...friend?"

"Yes."

"Is she...um...single?"

"I believe so."

"And none of you are interested?" Ethan asked.

"Well, I cou-" Harry began, but Julian jabbed him in the arm before he could finish his sentence.

"No," answered John.

"Oh," Ethan breathed out.

He continued staring at the enticing creature across the room. It was all just so surprising. She wasn't the 'Kate' that Danny had talked about? Danny had spent a year with that angelic face and had never thought about trying to get at her? "Danny's a complete imbecile," Ethan declared. Harry and Julian smacked their foreheads. "How could he not make a move on her? She's effin' gorgeous! Look at her! What the hell was Danny thinking?" Ethan ranted.

"Just go make a move on her already!" John blurted out.

"Oh yeah," Ethan finished, "Ok." His friends watched Ethan walk across the room. "He's going to crash and burn isn't he?" Julian inferred.

"Like an inflamed dodo," Harry replied.

"Let's go grab a couple drinks and watch, shall we?" John proposed.

On the other side of the room, Nicole was praying for someone to drag her away from this cruel and unusual punishment she was being subjected to. The idiotically loud party-goers were getting on her every nerve. The only thing getting her through was the fact that nobody dared to approach her. Judging from the sidelines was tolerable, but actual interaction with any of these people right now would send her over the edge. All she needed to do was maintain her personal space for another forty-two minutes.

Nicole felt a presence scoot alongside her. She winced and let out a sigh. It was Mr. Cant-Keep-His-Eyeballs-Inside-His-Own-Head. "Hey. What's up?" Ethan asked.

"Nothing," Nicole replied shortly.

"Oh," Ethan paused, "Cool." Without any sort of encouragement from Nicole, Ethan was at a loss for words. Instead, a stubborn silence remained between them. He looked arounds for any sort of assistance, but found none. "I'm gonna leave you alone now," he said, sliding away.

"You do that," she stated. He quickly dropped out of frame and awkwardly fast-walked away.

After that uncomfortable experience, Nicole decided she needed to take a more aggressive approach at keeping people at bay. She scanned her surroundings for any oncoming annoyances. There were a few close calls so she had to stay alert. Every time someone was headed her way she put on her most stoic expression as possible, ensuring that her personal bubble would not be trespassed.

"Hey." a familiar voice greeted as he slid up beside her. Nicole didn't even have to look at him, she knew exactly who it was. _Ethan Banks._ The human version of an asshole. She was already getting nauseous from his presence. "Nope," Nicole declared as she turned away. She cut through the crowd without looking back. All she could think about was getting as much distance away from him as quickly as possible. This is exactly why she didn't want to come to this stupid party in the first place. The ordeal of running into douchebags like Ethan Banks is just too traumatizing.

Armed with this new development, Nicole found Kate, politely excused her from Danny, and pulled her away. Once they were far enough from any eavesdroppers, Nicole opened her mouth to tell her friend the news. But before she could get a word out, Kate interjected. "This is about Ethan isn't it?" she said smugly. Nicole furrowed her eyebrows. How did she already know? Kate latched onto Nicole's arm. "So… what do you think of him?" Kate asked, giggling.

"Wait. What?" Nicole asked, perplexed.

"Ethan! What do you think of him?" Kate repeated. Nicole remained silent as she allowed this question to process in her mind. What did she _think_ of him? Was Kate out of her mind? Kate should know exactly how she felt about that asswipe. Maybe she just heard it wrong. Maybe Kate said "eating" like if she was hungry? Wait. That didn't sound right either.

"Ethan. Danny's friend? I saw you two talking!" Kate repeated.

"Ohhh! Total goof ball. He pretty much crashed and burned," Nicole informed.

"Damn it," Kate snapped her fingers, "I thought for sure…"

"Thought for sure what?" Nicole asked.

"What? Nothing. Carry on. You wanted to tell me something?" Kate quickly asked.

Nicole stared at her supposed friend. Kate was up to something and she could already tell she wasn't going to like it. However, there would be plenty of time to find out what that "something" was later. Right now, she had bigger fish to fry. "Ethan Banks is here," Nicole stated.

Nicole winced, already mentally preparing herself for the freak-out that would inevitably follow. "Ethan Banks….wait. _The_ Ethan Banks? The one from-" Kate exclaimed. Nicole nodded. "Unfortunately so," replied Nicole.

"Oh no. Ooohhh no," Kate paced, "If he's here that means… oh no. Oh shit. Shit, shit, shit."

"Yes, Kate. We needa get outta here," suggested Nicole.

"Here? We need to get of the state!" retorted Kate.

"I can be packed and ready to go in 15," informed Nicole.

As Danny took another sip of his drink, he turned to glance over at the girls' conversation. The moment he saw Kate walking around he knew something must've went horribly wrong. Danny strode over immediately. "Hey, what happened?" Danny asked Nicole. Kate continued to wander around in circles beside him. "Oh nothing, we're just going to fly back to California, that's all," Nicole casually replied.

"What? Why?" Danny asked, taken aback.

"I can't believe they're here. Well, actually I can. Since this was their turf to begin with but still! Oh this is bad. This is so so bad," Kate muttered to herself.

"Did something happen back home? Are your families alright?" Danny asked.

"It's here that you need to worry about," Nicole mumbled. Danny's brows furrowed. What could've possibly happened that could be this bad?


	4. Chapter 3: Guess Who

"Ethan Banks is here," Nicole repeated. Danny's eyes instantly widened. This _was_ serious. "Ok, well let's try to keep a level head about this," he calmly stated.

"Level head? Do you not understand that this is basically DEFCON 5?" exclaimed Nicole. Kate paced back towards her friends. "He's right. Let's just think this through," Kate replied. Danny sighed in relief; he was glad to see someone was acting rationally. "The taxi wouldn't take long to arrive and I'm sure there's a plane leading to LA in a couple hours or so. We could just stay at the airport in the meantime. That wouldn't be so bad. They have wi-fi, right?" Kate asked. Danny frowned. Apparently rationality and insanity was synonymous in this case. After not receiving any response, Kate went back to pacing. There had to be a reasonable solution out of this.

Nicole looked out into the crowd. You would think she would've been relieved at the sight of the unfamiliar crowd, but that just worried her more. He's out there and it was only a matter of time before he tries to talk to her again. And that conversation is the _last_ thing she wanted. She needed a way out. Fast.

Seeing this as a moment of opportunity, Ethan Harris walked towards his angel. He strode up with the confidence that he'd be able to seamlessly enter whatever conversation they were having. After his previous debacle, the guys had helped him figure out what ice breaker to use and where to go from there. It was definitely going to work this time. Ethan approached the stagnant two with a large smile. But before he could even get a word out, Nicole grabbed hold of his arm. "Hey! Do you wanna get out of here? Yes? Great! Bye guys!" Nicole cheerfully concluded. And just like that, they had vanished into the crowd and out of the conference room.

Danny and Kate stood there dumfounded. Well, that's one solution they hadn't thought of. Under normal circumstances, Kate would've been ecstatic to see Nicole walking off with a guy, but this was DEFCON 5 and she couldn't just stop and smell the roses. "Listen, Ethan only saw Nicole. I doubt he or Jordan even knows you're here. It's a big room. What are the odds you'll bump into each other?" Danny assured her. Kate nodded and took a deep breath. Danny was right. There were a lot of people at the party. And it's not like he was ever the partying type. Hell, he could even be gone by now!

Danny patted Kate on the back. "Let's go get you a drink," he proposed. Kate nodded and followed him to the refreshment table. She stood on the sidelines as Danny found an open space by the table to order some drinks. Deep breathing coupled with positive thought seemed to relax her a bit. All Kate had to do was keep repeating what Danny said. He probably wasn't here. And even if he was, he'd be too busy with his friends to find her. Plus, he doesn't even know she was here! So why would he go out of his way to look for her? It wouldn't make any sense. And it'd raise too many questions because Kate was pretty damn sure he _never_ mentioned her to his friends. So what did she have to worry about? All she had to do was focus on having a good time. She was in Florida! She got to see Danny and she even made new friends. There was no point in worrying about someone she had little to no chance of seeing.

Kate could've laughed outloud, but that'd just earn her weird looks. As she leaned against the wall, trying to contain her laughter, a girl dressed in gold, sparkly shorts approached the table beside Danny. It was hard not to notice the girl beside him, and it wasn't because of her attire. Her entire face, including her blue eyes, were alive with joy. Her blonde hair was straight yet bouncy, but looked fresh out of the salon. Girls wished to wake up looking like her someday. The best part was that she looked genuine, not like she was trying too hard. This was her, take it or leave it. After getting her drinks in a few seconds, the blonde walked away behind him. Danny turned back around, waiting for his own drinks to arrive.

"Oh my gosh! Are you Kate?" exclaimed an accented voice from behind him. Kate looked up, both confused and surprised that this girl noticed her. "Kate? From thosetwoawkwardgirls?" continued the blonde. Kate nodded slowly, not really knowing where this was going. "Oh my gosh, I'm such a fan! Can I hug you?" she asked. But before Kate could reply, she was wrapped up in the other girl's arms. For someone who seemed petite, she had a damn good hold. "I love your videos. They're all so clever!" she complimented. Kate laughed. "Thanks," Kate replied, "I'm sorry I never got your name."

"Oh! It's Jo. Actually, it's Joanna Livingston. But all my friends call me Jo," the girl piped.

"Well it's nice to meet you, Jo," Kate greeted.

"Honestly, I'm such a big fan. I've watched all your videos. Is Nicole here?" Jo looked around.

"Actually no, she had to leave. But I'll tell her you asked for her."

"I just can't believe I'm meeting you! I had no idea you were going to be here."

"Yeah, it was sort of a surprise on us too. So do you make videos?"

"Oh no. I'm not that creative with a camera. But my boyfriend makes some! Would you like to meet him?" Jo eagerly asked.

Already in love with this girl, Kate agreed. How could she resist someone so sweet? Jo nearly jumped up in excitement. She told Kate to stay right where she was and went scampering off to get her boyfriend. Danny arrived with the drinks in hand. "How does it feel being a big celebrity?" he teased. Kate nudged him. "Don't even. This is, like, the first fan I've ever met," Kate replied.

"Really? Well that's one hell of a first fan," Danny commented as he took a sip. Kate laughed. "I like her," she stated, "She seemed really nice!" Danny rolled his eyes. Figures. Kate liked everyone. "Well where'd she go?" Danny asked.

"To get her boyfriend. Apparently he's some sort of YouTuber," Kate answered.

The sparkly shorts returned with a dark-haired man in tow. Danny nearly choked on his drink at the sight. As the man and Kate locked eyes, the air inside Kate's lungs instantly dissipated. Nicole was so wrong. _This_ was DEFCON 5. "Kate, this is Jordan. Jordan, this is Kate!" Jo introduced. Both Kate and Jordan stood there, frozen, as they tried to process the chain of events that led to this unwanted encounter. They thought about all the things they could've done to deserve this. Perhaps it was that one time they didn't let an old lady take their seat on the bus. Or maybe it was when they accidently hit a dog on the head while trying to throw trash into the trash can. Or maybe it was because they threw their vegetables out the window instead of eating it like their mother told them to when they were seven. But no matter what the cause was, it wasn't going to change the situation; that of which, was growing more awkward by the minute.

In an attempt to kick things back into gear, Jo scooched over to her motionless boyfriend. "Say hello," she mumbled while knocking into him slightly. Jordan shook himself out of his own thoughts. "Hello," he spat out. Kate opened her mouth to reply, but was met with nothing. After a few "uh" and "um's" from Kate, Danny intervened. "Hi," greeted Danny.

"Jordan makes videos with his brother," informed Jo.

"Really? That's interesting," replied Danny.

"It's so cool to see so much talent in one room," Jo began.

As Danny and Jo continued their small talk, the other two remained silent. Jordan looked Kate over, trying to understand what was going on in her brain, but even if he could read her mind, he would've just found it empty. It seemed that the moment Jordan entered the conversation, Kate's brain bolted out of there. So she just stood there, her hands gripping the cup in front of her, her mouth slightly agape with a blank stare. "Well, we better go find our friends," Danny excused as he grabbed Kate by the shoulders.

"Oh, ok! It was really nice meeting you! I hope to see you again!" Jo said to Kate. After a few seconds of no response, Danny lightly shook her to knock her back to Earth. "Huh? Oh, yeah," Kate nodded mechanically. Jo grabbed Jordan's hand causing Kate's eyes to shoot right at it. "We better be going too. See you soon!" Jo exclaimed. Danny smiled politely and began to lead Kate as far away from the happy couple as possible.

Once they got far enough away, Danny focused in on the traumatized victim. Danny whipped Kate around and firmly placed his hands on her shoulders. "Kate," Danny called out, "Hello? Kate!" Kate shook her head. "I just… I just can't believe...," she stammered. He patiently waited for her to finish her thought. He knew that if she were to ever see Jordan again her reaction would be pure shock, but this was a lot worse than he thought.

A voice called out Danny's name from the crowd. _Shit._ It was probably one of his other Youtuber friends. He couldn't let them meet Kate like this, plus he didn't know if she could handle socializing with another person right now. As a matter of fact, he was surprised she was still standing. He needed to get her out of there. Fast.

"This place is amazing! They've got this giant pool outside and I just bought about 10 boxes of gelatin mix and-" Harry asked as he arrived on the scene. Danny grabbed Harry by the lapels. "Harry! You need to help me," Danny pounced.

"Not working out so hot with Summer, huh, mate? Well don't worry about it, I'm sure she'll come around," Harry began as Danny turned him around to face the still frozen Kate, "Oh haaay there, Kate! Just ignore anything I may have said. I was just rambling on, you know, it's a British thing. Us Brits tend to do that." Danny rolled his eyes. Normally, he would've been more worried about what Kate might have just heard, but in her current condition, he doubted it was much, if any.

Harry waved his hand in front of Kate's face. Nothing. "What happened to her? You didn't drug her did you? Cause that's just not cool, mate. I know she may not be completely into you, but this isn't the way to go about it. She's not an object, bro," Harry scolded.

"What?! No! Listen, I need you to take her upstairs," Danny explained.

"But the party's just started-" Harry pouted.

"You need to get her out of here now," Danny stated, "It's urgent."

"Alright! Alright!" Harry conceded, throwing his hands up in the air. Harry straightened out his dress shirt. "Relax. I'm on it," he reassured his friend.

Now Harry wasn't exactly the first person you'd call for in an emergency. (" _Hey!" Harry exclaimed. John shushed him in response and continued._ ) But in this case, he was all Danny had. Miraculously enough, it seemed that Harry was the perfect person for the job. Distractions _were_ this man's specialty. "Uh," Harry looked around for an opening, "Why don't we awkwardly stand over here, Kate?" Harry proposed as he steered her towards the door.

Danny watched as he saw his friend make his way towards him. He looked back at Harry anxiously. "Hurry," he whispered under his breath. Kate was still in a deep thought, but Harry's firm grip kept her moving. He shot a wink over to Danny. Danny exhaled just as he felt a hand hit his shoulder. "It's great to see you, mate!" his friend greeted. Danny smiled worriedly. "You too!" he greeted.

" _So basically, it was all thanks to me," Harry declared as he pulled on his shirt. John rolled his eyes. "It's not like it would've been that big of a deal if someone_ did _see Kate," John replied. Harry gasped, placing his hand on his chest. "Are you kidding me? It would've been horrible! Think about her reputation if that was her first impression! It's hard to make a name for yourself in the YouTube world, you know!" Harry retorted. This earned him another eyeroll from John. "Oh please," John muttered._

" _Anyways," Harry continued, "So I escorted the poor, paralyzed girl to her room. Which was difficult since she wasn't exactly cohesive during her walk. She just kept mumbling certain phrases like "can't believe it" or "worst day", you know, hardly relevant. But throughout it all, one man stayed true. One man kept going no matter what happened. One man refused to give up!" Harry's foot was propped up on a chair as he pointed towards the sky in one of those victorious poses. "One man needs to hurry the hell up," added John._

" _Me. Harrison Reid. I had a mission and by God, I was going to finish it. No matter what it took!" Harry exclaimed._

 _The crowd quickly applauded in response. John placed his fingers on the sides of his head and held in a groan. How Harry manages to manipulate crowds into believing his idiotic declarations was beyond him. "So what did you do?" asked a girl in the crowd. Harry hopped off the chair and moved towards the audience. "Well, we finally got onto the elevator, careful to avoid all attention from anyone else in the lobby, and we flew up to the sixth floor, where her room was," Harry informed._

" _How did you know where it was?" asked another member of the audience._

" _When I first met Kate, I saw that she was holding her room key in her hands. While we were talking, I managed to take a peek at the key and saw the shadow of the number through the paper. After realizing that it was a mirror-image, I was able to deduce that they were staying in room 605," Harry explained. The crowd gasped at Harry's observational abilities. "Or….Danny told him what room it was," John corrected._

" _Hush, mere mortal!" Harry interrupted, "Even if that was true, I could've easily figured it out the way I said I did. Now back to the story, even I, the great and powerful Harrison Reid, was not prepared for what we saw when we got to that hotel room…"_

After her run-in, Nicole was more than eager to get away from the party. She had a tight grip on Ethan's wrist through the lobby, loosened the hold into the elevators, and had completely let go of the poor sap in the hall. Ethan frantically tried to keep up the entire way, following her like a lost puppy. There were beads of sweat on his forehead by the time they arrived at her door. "Ok, you can go now," she dismissed, after the keypad lit up. Ethan panicked. This was his chance! They were finally alone! If he didn't make a move now, he might never get this close again. "Wait, hold on, is that it?" Ethan asked, "You sure you don't need me for anything?" Nicole mulled it over. "Nope," she stated as she opened the door.

Ethan stumbled his way forward, blocking Nicole from entering the room. "Well, what about some company? You wouldn't want to be alone at a time like this, right?" he stammered.

"At a time like what?" Nicole asked, giving him a confused look.

"A time of need! You should have someone by your side to help you get through it!"

"Get through what?"

"Uh, whatever it is that's bothering you! A friendly face and open ear are great companions. Plus, it'd be more fun getting drunk if you weren't alone," Ethan continued.

Nicole pursed her lips. While this guy was completely off about that whole friendly face and open ear part, he did have a point about the alcohol. She was used to drinking by herself, but it wouldn't hurt to have another person to drink with. It'd also be a better excuse when Kate came back and saw all of the countless bottles on the floor. "Ok," Nicole conceded. She pushed him aside to enter the room. "Ok?" Ethan asked, surprised that his argument worked. He quickly followed Nicole into the room, carefully closing the door behind him.

Walking into a room has never given Ethan more panic than it did right at that moment. Sure, he's performed at conventions and shows in front of crowds of people, but this was a completely different experience. He only had one shot at this, so he had to put on his best performance. Plus, it usually helped when those audience members actually _wanted_ to see him.

Nicole jumped onto her bed. She kicked off her shoes and began scrolling through her phone. "There should be drinks in the fridge," Nicole informed, not even looking up. Ethan cautiously approached the fridge; he really did have his work cut out for him. "The fridges come with beers here?" Ethan asked. There were a few already opened, name-brand beers in the fridge. He doubted his room was as well-stocked. "Nah, I just smuggled some from the bar downstairs. I'm not about to pay $20 for a tic-tac sized vodka," Nicole replied.

Ethan shrugged, she did have a point. He took a swig of one while handing her hers; after all, he was going to need all the help he could get here. Nicole sat up, taking the bottle from his hands, and took a drink herself. They just stayed there, drinking silently, for a few moments until the voice in Ethan's head went off. "Don't be a moron! Say something!" it yelled.

"Nice party, huh?" Ethan coughed out.

"It's ok," Nicole shrugged, still fixated on her phone. Well, at least he got an answer. He told himself to just build off of it naturally. That's how normal conversations start, right? "Yeah, psh, I mean, who'd want to stay in a room of crowded people anyways?" Ethan scoffed. Nicole took another gulp of her beer and nodded. "Yup," she replied.

This conversation was going nowhere. Ethan could feel the alarm beginning to sink in. "Ok, ok, relax. Just...pick another topic," his brain advised. Ethan looked around the room for some sort of talking point. There wasn't much to see. There were two suitcases, one unpacked and one untouched. There were a couple shoes on the floor, but judging from the organized formation they were in, he assumed they weren't hers. And finally, at the little table in the corner, there was a large jug of water, an extra bag, and a Canon 70D. Oh, that should do it!

"Hey, are you a photographer or something?" Ethan gestured towards the camera. He instantly winced. Of course she would have a camera, she was a YouTuber for crying out loud. Of all the stupid, idiotic things to point out- "Just some stuff on the side. I've done a couple photo shoots, but I don't have a career over it or anything," Nicole explained.

Ethan's ears perked up. _Did she just use more than one word in a sentence?_ Oxytocin and adrenaline pumped into Ethan's bloodstream. Alright! Now he was getting somewhere! _Wait...best not get too excited. Let's just try to keep this going._ Ethan raised the drink to his lips. "Photoshoots, huh? Those take a lot of time and energy," Ethan continued.

"Yeah, but I like doing it," Nicole replied.

"What's your favorite part?" he asked.

Nicole put down her phone to think about her response for a little while. She went through her photography agenda from getting inspired/getting a gig to printing out the photos. "Probably finding the perfect location. And then shooting at golden hour is great too, whether it's sunrise or sunset. I love how it looks when the subjects are backlit, like they're glowing from within in this picturesque field or beach," Nicole explained.

Ethan could've drooled right then and there. Listening to the way Nicole described these photo shoots made Ethan want to get on a plane and go to wherever Nicole was thinking about at that instant. "Wow," Ethan breathed out. He picked his jaw off the floor and shook himself out of his daydream. Even Nicole got caught up in her own words and had to shake herself out of her own mental picture. "Yeah, well," she shrugged and went back to her cell.

He needed to know more. "Do you ever film at those places?" Ethan asked. Nicole put her phone down again. "No, not really. When I film it's usually on-the-go or vlogging. So the locations are either indoors or an event," she answered.

"That's too bad. Cause I'm always trying to find good filming spots and the way you describe yours it makes it seem perfect," Ethan complimented.

"It's all about time of day, you know. What kind of lighting are you looking for?," she explained, sitting cross-legged on the bed. Ethan turned to her, bending one leg onto the bed. "Depends on the scene and what kind of film I'm making. I do like backlighting though." Nicole's eyes lit up. "Same! I love lens flares; well, not as much as J.J. Abrams but you get the idea," she quipped.

Did this girl just make a film joke? Ethan was going to have to grab his heart to stop it from palpitating cause this girl just got better; which he already thought was impossible. Poor guy was really in a pickle now. Not only was Nicole was gorgeous beyond belief, a passionate photographer, and a growing YouTuber, but now she was a film buff too? Which, yes, sounds like he just met his dream girl, but that also meant he had a lot more pressure. And what better way to alleviate such pressure than with alcohol, right? So Ethan had no choice but to chug down his beer like a divorced, overweight ex-cheerleader at her ten year high school reunion.

Nicole didn't understand what brought on this sudden drinking, but on the other hand, she was not about to go and judge someone on their drinking issues when she had her own. Besides, out of the two people in the room, she was the one who needed alcohol the most. After all, she'd just finished seeing, _ugh_ , Ethan Banks downstairs. He was probably down there now mackin' on a poor hoe's neck with his little fancy accent. Gross. Nicole looked down at the beer in her hands. "Bottoms up," she thought as she downed the bottle. Nicole exhaled as she tore the empty bottle away from her mouth. The alcohol hit her stomach and began eroding all thoughts of Ethan Banks from her mind; just like she wanted.

Nicole let out a belch, chuckling at its volume. "Pass me another one, would you?" she asked. Ethan passed her another bottle while taking another one for himself. "So...do you watch a lot of movies?" Ethan casually asked. Nicole mumbled out a "yeah" as she took another gulp from the bottle. "Any particular genre?" Ethan asked, taking a drink himself. Their bodies were already beginning to get that warm, cozy feeling as their thoughts got less and less cohesive. "Action movies, mostly. I like a lotta thriller and horror ones," Nicole replied. Ethan's eyebrows raised up at the new information. This woman was getting better by the second.

After a few more sentences on movies (and a couple bottles later), there came a natural lull in the conversation as their bodies began adjusting to the alcohol. "Hey, Imma put on some music," Nicole informed. She maneuvered her way to the large bag on her bed and pulled out her iPod and speakers. Taking careful consideration of her steps, Nicole got to the table, set up the mini-stereo system, and scrolled through to find a song. Now normally, this would be a difficult decision, but for some reason, there was one playlist in particular that really felt right.

The voice of Jhene Aiko serenaded the room, " _When you said it was over, you shot right through my heart._ " A smile grew on Nicole's face as the music took effect. " _Why you let these hoes tear what we had right apart, ooh i'm so mad_ " she sang along, pausing to only take another sip, " _I should've seen this coming right from the start_ "

" _You should beware, beware, beware_ " Ethan continued. Nicole opened her eyes and grinned. "Ayy!" she called out, pointing to her co-singer. " _Of a woman with a broken heart,_ " they sang in unison. They continued to take turns with lines, pointing to the other whenever it was their turn to take over. It wasn't long until these carefree emotions escalated. But the song eventually did come to an end and their highs began their descent. Luckily, the playlist blasted another Big Sean song and it was like the party never stopped.

"Ah, room 405. This is it right?" Harry asked the still-stunned Kate. Kate should've questioned how he knew her room, but she's seen that this guy has some tricks up his sleeves so she let it slide. Kate simply nodded in response and said, "Thanks for getting me out of there."

"No problem! Just promise me you won't let whatever happened in there ruin your night," Harry added. A small smile appeared on Kate's face as she unlocked the room door. Even though Harry seemed like a socially unept third grader at times, he could be quite sweet otherwise. Harry continued, "We're thousands of miles away from our homes with free booze at our fingertips! Things couldn't get better than this." Kate smiled again. Granted Harry might've been right, but she had a lot of things weighing on her and partying was the last thing on her mind. Right now, all she wanted to do was take a shower, lay down, and attempt to forget all about it.

And forget about it she would; because when Kate opened the door, she was greeted with the sight of her roommate and her newly acquainted friend twerking their hearts out to "Dance by Big Sean". Neither of them noticing the opened door with their two, very confused friends standing there. Kate's first instinct was to just close the door and pretend like it never happened, but then it finally clicked in her head. Here was her dear friend, Nicole, bonding with a male friend, who by the way, could potentially become more than a friend if given the appropriate amount of time. It'd been two years since Kate's last seen Nicole even hanging out with a guy. Kate couldn't just ruin this precious, potentially life-changing moment! That's not what a good friend would do; and she was an _amazing_ friend.

So Kate slyly tiptoed into the room, shoved a few necessities into a bag, and closed the door quietly behind her. Not so surprisingly, neither Nicole or Ethan noticed as they were far too busy trying to gyrate properly to the beat. Even after the door was closed, Harry stood completely still with his mouth opened. "Harry, would it be alright if I could take a shower in your room?" Kate asked, ignoring his expression. But all Harry could say was, "How can she move those body parts like that?"

"She's half black. Are you really that surprised?" she informed.

"I just didn't know your hips could move that way," he thought aloud.

"I'm just going to take that as a 'yes'. Are you guys on this floor?" she asked.

Kate held her bag in front of her as she patiently waited for Harry to collect himself. You'd think that he'd never seen a girl twerk before. Harry handed her his room key, still unable to peel his eyes away from the door. "You lead," he told her in a zombie-like manner. Kate let out an exasperated sigh. She grabbed onto his shoulder and dragged him towards the elevator. "So I guess clubbing is definitely out of the question," Kate thought aloud.


	5. Chapter 4: Some Much Needed Space

p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"("/spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"So you're probably wondering, 'hm, I wonder where John was this whole time,'" John continued. "Nobody's thinking that!" Harry yelled through cupped hands. John shot him a dirty look and returned to the crowd. "Well, Julian and I were on our way up from the lobby. The party was already getting dull and we were beginning to wonder where Harry was at.")/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Julian had gotten this text from Harry, warning him that somebody was in their room and to not come up. Now, naturally as guys, when someone told them to not do something, they were going to do it. This peaked his interest, so he took John along. They discussed the possibilities on the walk there. Their choices ranged from fellow YouTubers to a burglar that Harry managed to tame with his impression of a rogue mountie who just so happened to be a moose. They knocked and impatiently waited by the door. "Who is it?" a voice asked./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Room service," Julian answered in a high-pitched voice./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""What? I didn't order any," Harry mumbled as he approached the door. He looked through the peephole and gasped. He paused and started thinking of the best way to shoo the two away. "Go away," he shouted in a whisper./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Oh come on, Harry. I need to get in the room. I need… ," Julian looked towards John for some help, who just shrugged. "I need my charger!"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Use John's!" Harry retaliated./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""He… uh… doesn't have one for my phone!" Julian made up./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You both have the same iPhone," Harry reminded flatly./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Just hurry up and open the door, Harry," John interrupted, saving Julian from having to come up with another excuse./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Harry groaned and begrudgingly opened the door. Julian and John nearly burst through the frame simultaneously. They scanned the room, looking for the mystery guest. "Could you just get your charger and leave?" Harry ordered. Julian circled the room, turned around, and instantly complained, "I don't get it, you told me someone was here." Harry sighed. He had no choice. Obviously, they weren't going to leave until they found out who it was. "They're in the shower," Harry confessed./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Who?" both of his nosy friends asked./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""A girl," Harry answered. Scoffing, snorting, and annoying laughter soon followed. Julian heaved over as John patted him on the back as they howled. "Oh, that was a good one," John said, wiping his watering eyes./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Yeah, really!" Julian let out a sigh, "So who's really in there?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Harry shrugged and moved towards the other side of the room. If they didn't want to believe him, fine, their problem. Julian and John followed him as he moved silently around the room. "Really, Harry," Julian insisted. Harry laid down on his bed and pulled out his phone. "Harry!" Julian continued, but any and all pleas were ignored. John looked on inquisitively. Julian jumped onto Harry's bed. "Are you honestly serious about having a girl in there?" Julian asked. No response. "Harry!" Julian yelled. This was getting them nowhere. There was no way Harry could actually be serious. Sure, he's been on dates before, but to get a girl in one night was too high of an accomplishment. Besides, why would she be in the shower anyways? Unless they already…/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Are you guys, ok?" a female voice asked from the doorway. Harry was laying down in bed with Julian crowded around him and John looking on in disappointment. Each of their heads whipped in her direction. Their eyes widened at the sight of the familiar girl clad in a fitted t-shirt and grey sweats. "Oh, you're done?" Harry asked, finally looking up from his phone. Kate peered over at the two frozen bodies. "Uh… yeah," she replied. Harry got up, tossed his phone on the bed, and walked towards her. "Do you need anything else?" he asked. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Um… no. I should be fine. Are they ok?" she whispered to Harry./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Them? Don't worry about them, they're fine. Are you going to go back up to your room?" Harry asked. Kate returned her belongings to her bag, keeping her eye on the two sets of eyes trained on hers. Was she wearing something odd? Sure, her shirt had the words "Currently in a relationship with my bed" emblazoned on it, but that shouldn't warrant those flabbergasted looks. "They don't seem ok," Kate observed. Harry walked behind the two fazed boys and gave them a nudge. "That's a real, live girl. A real girl just came out of his bathroom," John muttered./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Not just any girl. Summer," Julian whispered back. Thankfully, Kate was too far away to hear anything. Harry stood between Kate and the two idiots he called friends. "You're not going back to your room?" Harry asked again./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Kate shook her head and continued to arrange her things. "Why?" Julian finally joined in. Kate scoffed. "Go back to the drunk, rapping couple? No, thank you," she retorted. Julian and John exchanged confused looks. What couple? There was couple in her room? What were they doing? Where did they come from? Ignoring his confused friends, Harry went back to the opportunity at hand. "Well, where are you going to sleep? Oh! I have an idea! Why not here?" he offered. Julian's and John's eyes doubled at the proposal. Summer? Sleep /spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"here?/spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" Danny would throw a fit. Kate laughed at the thought of it; she could see her conversation with Nicole now: "Where'd you sleep last night?" Nicole would ask./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Oh just in the room of two boys I met a couple hours ago. NBD," Kate would respond. As if that was going to happen./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Thanks, but no thanks. I'll bunk with a friend," Kate politely declined. Harry pouted. Having her sleepover would've give him all night to pump her for information. After everything Danny had told them, he was desperate to know about what happened in London two years ago. Plus he wanted to find out more about that underwear incident. How could you mix up a pair of boxers for shorts? It just didn't make any sense. He HAD to find out. "Are you sure? It'd really be no trouble. I'd sleep on Julian's bed, so you'd have mine all to yourself," Harry offered. Julian opened his mouth to object to the plan, but Harry quickly covered it before he could say a word. "That's sweet, but I already made plans. Thank you, though," Kate declined, looking through her bag for her phone. Damn it. Refused again. Apparently his "powers" weren't working as well as they used to./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"(/spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I DO have powers!" exclaimed Harry from behind John. John sighed. "Sure you do, mate!" he shouted back. Harry crossed his arms and smiled smugly. John faced the audience and rolled his eyes. They laughed in response. "What? What'd he do? Did he roll his eyes? Cause that's plain rude," Harry retaliated. "Anyways," John heavily enunciated.)/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"No matter what excuse, proposal, or offer Harry gave her, Kate wouldn't budge. "Well, what if you just hang out for a while?" Julian asked. Kate looked at the time. It wasn't late yet, and she did have time to kill anyways. "Sure, let me make a phone call first," she accepted. Kate began dialing a number and stepped out of the room. Harry pounced on Julian, shaking him and patting his back. "You're a genius!" he exclaimed. Julian grinned. He didn't exactly know what he did right, but he wasn't going to shy away from being praised either. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"By the time Kate returned, Harry had a movie on, pillows fluffed, and food on the way. "So, what are we watching?" Kate asked, taking a seat on a bed./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Something on, uh," Harry squinted to make out the faded logo on the corner, "TBS." Harry smiled evilly as she got comfortable. He had leafed through the channels, trying to find the perfect movie. It needed to be interesting enough so they wouldn't change the channel, but be easy enough to zone out of so they could talk. AKA: Die Hard. "So what's going on in your room?" Julian asked. Kate sat down at the edge of the bed between Harry and John./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Oh, Nicole's just having a couple drinks with Ethan," she laughed at how much of an understatement 'couple drinks' was, "It's no big deal. I just figured it'd be easier to leave instead of ruining their mood." John's and Julian's eyes widened. "You mean to tell me that, Ethan's alone in a room with Nicole?" John asked./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""And he's actually able to say words?" Julian finished./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Yeah," Kate replied./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""The wanker actually did it," John said under his breath. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Wait, he isn't going to /spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"try/spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" anything, right?" Kate nervously asked./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I'm just surprised he was able to form sentences," John replied./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Well his rapping was pretty on point," Kate laughed./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Rapping? Ethan? He must be sloshed," John commented./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""If that means drunk out of their minds, then yes, they're completely sloshed," Kate repeated./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""What about you, Kate? Have you ever been drunk?" Harry jumped in./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""No, I, uh, I don't like alcohol," she politely smiled./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You don't?" repeated Julian./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""It's just the taste, you know? I can't ever seem to get past one sip. But it's fine, I mean, everyone needs a DD, right?" she tried to laugh it off./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Telling a bunch of guys you don't like to drink is hard enough, but tell a bunch to young, British guys must be a felony. Alcohol is their stock and trade! Great, now they were going to think she was some sort of boring prude. "Eh, you're not missing out on much. You just wake up the next morning with a massive hangover and a dry mouth," John concluded. The guys nodded and added their agreements. Kate breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't that big of a deal. Ok, good. "And if you're John, you wake up with videos of you singing along to 'Dreamgirls' from the night before," Julian added. John frowned. "Wait, what?!" exclaimed Kate./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"(/spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Ok! Ok! We can skip past that part!" interrupted John. Harry laughed at the success of his vengeance. "But it's such a good story!" he teased. John pulled Harry back. "Another story for another day. Wouldn't want to confuse the audience with another story within a story. That'd be story-ception," John quickly added, "So basically, Julian tells her a little story about a previous event, that's all, and it took up a large portion of the night. Then Kate had to leave and Harry didn't take it so well.")/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The moment the door closed, Harry dropped his cheerful exterior, "We had a full proof plan!" The other two recoiled at the sharp tone. "Well, she said she had to leave", John pointed out. Julian sat up from the edge of the bed. "Yeah, she got a phone call and everything," Julian defended. Harry facepalmed himself. They were idiots. He did all that prepping, all that thinking, all that rehearsing, and all for nothing. Harry turned to glare at his two friends, but they were already too absorbed in the movie to notice. Crashes and gunshots sounded through the TV, causing Julian to let out audible oh's and ah's. Harry glanced over and saw the flashes of light reflecting off their attentive eyes. "Oh shit!" John exclaimed immediately after an explosion. Harry closed his eyes. "Damn it," he muttered and quickly walked over to TV, "Ok, ok! What'd I miss?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"By the time Kate got to the rooftop, the last of the cleaning staff were already gone. She made her way towards one of the beach chairs, put her bags on the table beside her, and got comfortable. Kate let out a sigh of content as she looked up. Granted she was still in the city and the light pollution prevented most of the stars from being seen, but the view from there couldn't have been better. It was one of those warm, summer nights and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. With the kind of night she had, Kate needed to be in a wide, open space where her thoughts could dissipate into the constellations./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"This worked for a while, but thoughts of the unexpected meeting percolated in her mind. It'd been two years since they last saw each other. You would've figured it'd have lost its effect by now, but it didn't. Seeing him was just as paralyzing as it had been those years before. Naturally, she anticipated seeing him here, this was their territory after all, but she planned on staying far enough away that she wouldn't have to see him up-close. And his girlfriend? Oh, the infamous girlfriend (who, apparently, was also a fan) never even came into mind! Ugh. Could it /spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"be/spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" any worse? Kate shoved her face into the pillow and groaned loudly. She just wanted it all to get out of her head. She wanted every memory, every trace, every thought of the whole debacle to just fall out and roll off the edge of this damn hotel./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You might suffocate, you know," Danny informed as he approached the poor, unfortunate soul lamenting into a cushion. Kate slowly looked up and smiled meagerly. He took a seat at the end of lounge chair. "I was just, uh, letting off some steam," Kate excused./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""So I see," Danny laughed. Kate avoided his gaze. After a few moments of awkward silence, Danny spoke. "So I take it your room was preoccupied?" he asked. Kate laughed at the memory of Nicole and Ethan's twerking capabilities. "Nicole and Ethan are having a little party," Kate informed. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Danny's eyebrows shot up as if to say "oh?". Apparently Ethan had finally gotten over his little stage fright. Atta boy. "So your go-to plan is to just stay here all night long?" Danny asked. Kate shrugged. "I heard this hotel had a rooftop pool. So I called the desk to see when it'd be empty and snuck in," Kate confessed./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Wow, such a rebel," Danny commented, leaning back on his hands./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Naturally," Kate curtly nodded, "What's your excuse?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I got bored and wanted to see how high the elevator would take me," Dany simply replied./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""And you're sitting over there judging me for groaning into a pillow," Kate scoffed./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I wasn't judging you!" Danny exclaimed./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Mhmm," Kate hummed. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Since you brought it up," Danny casually looked away, "What's with the whole sad, frustrated mood you've got going on?" /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" Kate pursed her lips, debating on how much she should tell him. On one hand, she really would rather not put this all on Danny again; after all, he already had to handle this years ago. On the other hand, if she didn't get this out now, she'd probably implode. Maybe...maybe letting a little bit out would be ok. "It's just the first time jitters, that's all," Kate downplayed. Danny resisted the urge to scoff at her obvious lie. When Kate saw Jordan, she was practically paralyzed. He hadn't seen anything like that since the one time John found out Harry recorded him singing 'Dreamgirls'./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"("Stop mentioning that!" John exclaimed. Harry was in the crowd, snickering with some fans. He caught his breath and said, "I'm sorry. You can continue now." He motioned the zipping of his lips and waved his approval.)/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""It seemed like a lot more than just jitters," Danny reminded. Kate winced. "I was just shocked," Kate rephrased, looking at anywhere else but him. Danny nodded. "I see," he acknowledged like a Buddhist monk. Kate nearly giggled at the sight of him trying to sound like some old man. "Ah, and tell me what you see, oh wise one," Kate clasped her hands together and bowed./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Questrial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Danny laughed, unable to keep his cool any longer. After the laughter subsided, a moment of complete silence passed between the both of them. The night's events still weighted too heavily on Kate's mind. Realizing that he couldn't do anything at this point, Danny spoke. "So you're just going to stay up here?" he asked. Kate hummed as she thought about it. "Mm, yeah, pretty much," Kate nodded. Danny frowned. Now that just wouldn't do. Leaving a girl alone out at night? Who knows who could come up here! There were disgusting pigs everywhere. What if one of the cleaning staff found her and decided to get kinky? They would be completely isolated and in the middle of the night, he doubted anyone would come up here looking for them. Kate could get seriously hurt and- /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span id="docs-internal-guid-d0306413-e8d6-5385-d6d2-70dc38959d17"span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-family: Questrial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"Kate punched Danny's arm. "I'm kidding!" she laughed. The look on Danny's face had been pretty priceless. She could see him turning white by the second, and that's saying something cause he was pretty pale to begin with. "I'm just going to stay up here for a while then I'll either go back to the room or bunk with a friend. I wouldn't be crazy enough to be up here by myself!" Kate replied. Danny exhaled. She really had him going there. He patted the chair cushion as he got up. "Call me if you need anything," Danny. Kate nodded, giving him a reassuring smile in the process. "Good night!" she called out as Danny walked back downstairs. Kate reclined in her seat, looked up at the stars above her, and sighed. Tomorrow should be better right? It had to be./span/span/p 


	6. Chapter 5: The Morning After

Nicole woke up groggily. It's been awhile since she's been up this early, but an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach woke her up and forced her to face the biggest hangover she's had to date. She needed Advil. Fast. But as Nicole tried to get up, she felt something heavy weighing down her legs. She leaned up and saw Ethan's head resting against her legs like a pillow. Nicole's first instinct was to slap his head to wake him so she could get up, but something was holding her back. After dancing their hearts out and drinking until they passed out last night, he wasn't just a friend of a friend anymore. Whether she liked it or not, bonds were made last night and this wasn't just waking up a stranger.

Ethan's face twitched in his sleep, making Nicole smile. "He's kinda cute in some odd way," she thought. But no matter how cute he looked asleep, Ethan was holding her back from getting ready for the day. Nicole grabbed a pillow and in a swift and slow movement, replaced her legs with it. Ethan didn't even flinch. Mission accomplished. Not waking Sleeping Beauty up was such a sweet gesture that she felt like puking. Either that or it was all of the alcohol coming back to haunt her.

It was 7:29 a.m. In one minute, her alarm was going to go off and wake him up. Nicole picked up Ethan's phone off bed and saw his alarm was set for 7:30 as well. "We wouldn't want to wake up the poor baby, right?" Nicole justified as she turned off his alarm. Making sure he didn't wake up, Nicole made herself look somewhat presentable (and not hungover like she actually was) in about 15 minutes, and carefully left the room with the smile still plastered across her face.

Kate woke up as the sun rose to an uncomfortable height above her. She winced at the unfiltered light. The humid Florida air was already making the jacket cling onto her and it was still early in the morning. _Wait, what jacket?_ Kate picked up the coat off her body and turned it over. This wasn't hers. It was navy blue toggle coat. It covered most of her upper waist too, so she knew it wasn't Nicole's. Kate laughed at the idea of Nicole coming up to the rooftop and putting a jacket on her being as drunk as she was. Nicole wouldn't even be able to get out of the hotel room! No, Nicole didn't even know she was up here anyways. The only person-

 _Danny._ He must've not trusted her and came back up to check when she fell asleep. How sweet. He always seemed to be there for her. Kate smiled as she folded the jacket, got up, and unplugged her cell phone from the nearby outlet. It was nearly 7 am. She doubted Nicole was up by now and she really didn't want to see the couple in an uncompromised position. It'd probably be best if she got ready at someone else's place. She opened the door and descended into the air conditioned hotel.

Let's see- Kate could use Harry's restroom again. He seemed ok with it last night. But what if Julian wanted to use the restroom? Maybe she could use John's? After all, he was probably bunking with Ethan and since Ethan was over at her room, it would only seem right. It'd be like a roommate swap thing. But she didn't really know John well; it'd be weird to just show up out of nowhere and ask to use the restroom. Plus she didn't even know his room number! Kate continued to think about her options as she walked down the stairs. "Oh hello, Kate!" a friendly voice called out. Kate whipped around before going down the other flight of stairs.

Jo popped out holding a bucket filled with ice and a grin on her face. Kate opened her mouth to say hello back, but she was caught off guard by the blue flannel covering Jo's body. She'd seen that flannel before. Two years ago, in fact. Jordan wore it when- Kate shook the memory out of her mind. No. She was not about to go down that road again. It was on Jo now and that's all that mattered. "We ran out of ice so I offered to go get some," Jo informed, holding the bucket up. Kate internally cringed at that word. _We_. "What about you?" Jo asked.

"I, uh, I was just going to um," Kate fiddled with the jacket in her hands, "I was just going to return this to Danny."

"Oh, that blonde boy? He's cute," complimented Jo.

"Yeah, well," Kate faded off.

"What are your plans for today?"

"Uh, I think we're just going to go to go around Orlando. I think it's Universal day."

"It is?! Oo, sounds fun! Maybe Jordan and I will meet you at one of them!"

Kate's eyes widened. No. Last night was bad enough. She didn't want to be _near_ Jordan Banks ever again. It was just too much! She opened her mouth to voice her vehement opposition to the idea. "Well, gotta go! Ella wants iced coffee and she gets a little grumpy without her morning caffeine. See you soon!" Jo piped as she ran off, leaving Kate alone with a navy jacket and a sinking feeling of regret. Maybe, Jo would forget.

" _Afterwards, we all met up at this restaurant for breakfast," John began. Harry immediately jumped in. "But not just any restaurant, the best American restaurant to ever grace the cuisine scene," Harry elaborated. He smiled to himself at the subtle rhyming. You can't help but believe a rhyme, you know. It just sounds right. Like that one about snakes: red on yellow can kill a fellow, but red on black is a friend of Jack. Or the about bathroom etiquette: if you sprinkle when you tinkle, be a sweetie and wipe the seatie! Or his personal favorite about general health: an apple a day keeps a doctor away, but more than two and it's hard to poo. All not only true, but catchy as well. The perfect mix._

" _We dined at the ever so prestigious International House of Pancakes," Harry proudly declared. The crowd looked at their orator confusingly. "Do you mean IHOP?" asked one of them. Harry stammered a little before replying, "Well, yes, but the IHOP's there are different than the ones over here," Harry defended._

" _Hate to admit it, but he's right. There's just something about the pancakes over there," John agreed. He looked far off as if remembering a fond memory._

The guys got to IHOP first, so they were the ones that secured a table. They sat beside each other at the round booth. "So, Ethan didn't come back last night?" Julian whispered. John shook his head. "I didn't even get a text," told John. Julian and Harry eyes lit up as a smile slowly grew on their face. Ethan had been MIA ever since and the only confirmed sighting was when Harry saw him in Nicole's room earlier last night. And since there was really nowhere else for Ethan to go, that must've meant that Ethan stayed over at Nicole's room. Which also meant that-

"Good morning, boys" Kate greeted them as Danny and her sat at the table. The boys exchanged more surprised looks. Did Danny and Kate just come in together? "You don't think," Julian began. Harry shrugged. "She did say she was sleeping over at a friends," John reminded. The guys attempted to hide their smiles as the two perused their menus. Apparently Ethan wasn't the only one who made progress last night.

Feeling like he was being watched, Danny looked up to see three pairs of amused eyes; he raised an eyebrow at the sight. What were they up to? Kate had knocked on his door earlier this morning to use the restroom and get ready. Apparently she didn't want to bother her friend any more than she had to so she left as soon as she could. Afterwards, Danny got a text from the boys telling him to meet them at the local IHOP for breakfast which is why they arrived together. He wasn't about to leave her alone! These looks were unsolicited and unnecessary. He told them she was coming along and they seemed pretty happy about the news. What changed?

Nicole arrived a couple minutes later. She received Kate's text about breakfast the moment she walked out the door; which saved her the trouble of calling to find out where Kate went. Knowing Kate, she probably slept over at Danny's room. Nicole almost felt sorry for the guy. But if Danny had really wanted to get out of the friend zone, he would've made a move by now. And it wasn't like he didn't have any opportunity to, he's had two years for crying out loud! Maybe he finally gave up.

Nicole scoffed at the thought as she entered the restaurant. _As if._ Nicole nodded at the crew as she sat down beside Kate. Her head was pounding and eggs and bacon sounded like the best idea she's had all week. "Heeeyyy Nicole," Harry greeted teasingly. Nicole cringed at the loud noise. "No no, too soon. Too early," she firmly replied. Harry smiled as he folded his arms onto the table. "Ah, I know a hangover when I see one," Harry observed. He wiggled his eyebrows. Every good hangover comes from one hell of a night. John knows all about that.

(" _Uh uh!" John interrupted, sitting up, "No need to divulge anymore information, Harry." Harry sighed and rolled his eyes. "Fine," he conceded.)_

"So how was your night last night, Nicole?" John cautiously asked. The two other lads leaned in. Nicole shrugged. "Average. A little short-lived," Nicole stated. The guys' eyes widened. That didn't sound good. Maybe they weren't asking the right questions. "So nothing _interesting_ happened last night?" asked Julian.

"I mean, nothing memorable," answered Nicole.

"Wait, didn't you spend the night with Ethan?" reminded John.

"Well yeah, I guess so. I woke up and he was asleep in the room. In fact, he's still-"

Suddenly, the door flung open and a disheveled Ethan stumbled through the door. The entire diner turned around to look at the source of the abrupt sound. Ethan smiled sheepishly and waved. He strode over to the table and took a seat. "Well, he _was_ asleep," finished Nicole.

"Hey guys," Ethan greeted as he scooted in. Ethan fiddled around with his shirt and jeans; how he managed to shower, brush his teeth, and change in 15 minutes was an accomplishment in itself. Nicole went back to look at the menu, ignoring the pants coming from the man beside her. "Are you all ready to order?" the waiter asked.

"Yes, I would like the bacon and eggs," Nicole ordered.

"And how would you like your eggs?"

"Scrambled. OH. And coffee, please, that's the most important part."

"Alright. Who's next?" the waiter addressed the rest of the table.

As everyone else took turns placing their orders, Ethan frantically scanned the menu. Ever since he realized he had overslept, he's been desperately trying to catch up. He didn't even understand how he ended up oversleeping in the first place. He could've sworn he set his alarm days ago! "And for you?" the waiter asked, looking at Ethan.

"Uh," Ethan drew out as he sped-read the menu, "Oh! Pancakes! I'd like pancakes."

"Anything else?" the waiter asked, slightly taken aback at Ethan's excitement. Ethan shook his head. "Nope, just pancakes. And a coffee. Thanks," Ethan stated.

Ethan clapped the menu shut, grinning with pride at his quick decision making abilities. How could you go wrong with pancakes? Nicole winced. Why was it so loud so early in the morning?! And who gets that excited over ordering breakfast? Well, she did, but she was the one with the hungover so she deserved to be biased. The waiter collected the menus and went off the back to put in the orders. The rest of the table sat in silence. With Nicole being so quiet and Ethan grinning to himself like an idiot, there were a lot of unanswered questions. The other table mates stared at the unlikely pair suspiciously.

Unfortunately, nobody had the balls to ask what was on everyone's mind, so everyone stayed quiet- so quiet, that Nicole started to drift asleep right there. One of the easiest ways to cure a hangover was to simply go back to sleep. And with nobody talking, sleep was looking awfully easy to do. "Hey," Ethan nudged her slightly. Nicole snorted as she was jolted away. "Where did you go this morning? I woke up and you had already taken off," Ethan asked.

Ethan was pretty upset that she wasn't there when he woke up. He wanted to see what she looked like asleep or what she looked like when she woke up in the morning; you know, in the most non-creepy way possible. Did she snore or talk in her sleep? What did she dream about? Maybe she does that super cute thing where she twitches uncontrollably. But whatever cute thing Nicole did in her sleep, and he was sure that she did something cute in her sleep, Ethan would just have to wait until next time to see it. If he should be so lucky.

Nicole couldn't believe what she just heard. She scoffed before saying, "Why? Were you gonna give me breakfast in bed or something?" Ethan smiled and shrugged. If lukewarm coffee and some leftover airplane peanuts could be considered breakfast, then yes, he was. Hey, it's the thought that counts, right? Harry leaned over to Kate and made descending whistling sound followed by a crash. Kate narrowed her eyes at his lack of faith. It wasn't Ethan's fault Nicole was unresponsive. It was early and Nicole was hungover! Maybe they should talk about something more universal to lighten the mood. Oh, that's it!

"So what are the plans for today? We're going to Universal Studios, right?" Kate asked as she folded a napkin onto her lap. Harry was the first one to answer. "Yeah, so we can ride on as many coasters as we can without barfing," Harry said a little too enthusiastically.

"What a lovely thought right before breakfast," Nicole said through gritted teeth. "Thank you, Harry, as always." Harry tipped his imaginary hat in response.

"No, but I think Harry has a point," Kate agreed. Everyone stopped what they were doing and gave Kate the most puzzling look imaginable. Those words should never be put into a sentence and said with genuine belief of their truthfulness.

 _("Hey!" Harry exclaimed. "No offense, mate," John replied. Harry crossed his arms and nodded. "Ok, just making sure," Harry accepted.)_

Noting the perturbed looks, Kate sighed before saying, "I mean, we should do as much as we can today, especially since we're all together. Who knows when we'll see each other again?" More furrowed eyebrows followed. "Um," Julian raised his hand, "We'll see each other in a couple months for Vidcon."

"Hey, that's besides the point," Kate abruptly responded, "I'm just saying we should spend this time to really get to know each other." The rest of the table exchanged more confused looks. It's like they were having lunch with a summer camp counselor.

Ethan couldn't help sneak in a glance of Nicole, who was starting to doze off again. Thankfully, the waiters came with their food, finally waking Nicole the hell up. Everyone practically devoured their food; which turned out to be perfect because with food in their bellies, the plan easily began taking shape. And before you knew it, they were already on the bus to the theme park.

Julian and Harry had made plans to meet up with their two other fantastic YouTuber friends while John went to meet up with his girlfriend, leaving the odd couples to fend for themselves. It was sort of payback for never fully divulging last night's details. Plus, that way, they figured some more juicy developments would come out of this. The girls sat together in one row as the boys sat in the row behind them

Kate tried planning out her words to make it seem like she wasn't curious as to what happened with Ethan last night, but the only thing that kept coming to mind was "Hey, Nicole, what happened with Ethan last night?". So she figured she might as well just start off slow. "So," Kate began. Nicole didn't even have to look up from her phone. "Kate, just ask what happened," Nicole cut off.

Damn, caught. Kate decided her best option would be just to play it off. "Whaaat? I don't wanna know what happened last night between you and Ethan," she tried to lie. Nicole's face fell. That wasn't even remotely believable. But she knew that if she didn't address it now, Kate would just keep bugging her about it for the rest of the day. And Kate was not good at this whole "subtle" thing.

Nicole paused her music and took out an earbud. She took a deep breath before beginning. "I just needed to get drunk and Ethan was kinda there, so he got drunk too. Nothing else happened," she stated matter-of-factly. There. Simple and easy. There shouldn't be anymore questions for a while. Nicole went to reinsert the earbud, but when she looked up, all she saw Kate trying her best not to grin from ear to ear. "Mhmm sure. I know what happens when alcohol's involved," Kate teased. Kate nudged Nicole repeatedly, ignoring Nicole's signature dagger eyes. This ride was going to be hell.

Meanwhile, Ethan was trying his hardest to get as humanly possible to Nicole without having her notice that he was close by. Not only because he couldn't get enough of her, but because he wanted to find out what Kate said that made Nicole looks so angry. But all Ethan could hear was Nicole mumbling, "This trip better be worth it because I swear to God, this is the last vacation I go on with this mother-"

"Final boarding call! Please find a seat and refrain from moving around," the bus driver announced. Nicole leaned her head against the window and put her headphones back in, but even the blasting Fall Out Boy couldn't drown out that one loud cry. "Wait! Wait for us! We're coming!" an annoying shrill pierced the air. Nicole could've vomited right there and then from how revolting it sounded. On the other hand, Kate quickly looked out the opposite window. She could've sworn she's heard that voice before. The voice's cry pierced the air again. Nicole couldn't take it anymore. She blurted out to the driver, "Drive. Drive now. Let them walk, just start driving now!" But it was too late.

The graceful yet frantic blonde stepped on board, pulling her tired boyfriend along. Another couple followed close behind them. "Whew! Thanks for waiting!" Jo greeted the driver. The newcomers took the closest seats they could; which just so happened to be directly across the aisle beside Kate and the couldn't-be-more-annoyed Nicole. Nicole couldn't roll her eyes anymore harder. "Perfect. Just. Perfect," she said to herself. It was bad enough she had to endure an entire bus ride with Kate goading her about Ethan, but now she was going to have to endure listening to the most annoying voice she's ever known talk within a couple feet of her.

The second girl turned around with an annoyed look on her face. "I still don't know why you took off running, Jo. We could've just driven there ourselves," she brunette whipped back around and started to fix her hair with the reflection of the window. Kate noted the steep contrast between the two. The other one might have been a handful, but at least she was cheerful. It'd probably be best to just stay out of the other one's way. Jo smiled as she watched the bus began to pull out.

"I wanted to get on the shuttle. It's more fun!" Jo piped. Her friend scoffed. "Fun? Fun is lounging by the Mediterranean Sea or shopping in France. Not bumming it in a charter bus. Look! Even Jordan is sweating!" she replied. The girls turned to look at the brunette running his hands through his hair. A few beads of sweat had formed around his hairline, but other than that, not a hair was out of place.

Every muscle on Kate's body tensed up at the sound of the name. There was no way. It couldn't have been. How many Jordans are there? Dozens, at least. It wasn't like it's an uncommon name. This could've been anyone. Right? "He's fine, Ella. Aren't you?" Jo turned to her boyfriend. Kate didn't even look up to solidify their identities. She was frightened that the wrong move could make her presence known. Maybe if she stayed completely still, the possibility of the worst would blow over.

The man shrugged before answering, "I still don't think we needed to run. We could've gotten on the other bus." His deep, accented voice rumbled through the air like a torpedo about to take off. And its target? The the poor dark-haired deer in headlights beside them. Life-threatening panic seeped into Kate's body. She instinctively grabbed Nicole's arm, foregoing her over excessive use of strength.

Nicole pulled back in pain. "God, WHAT, Kate?" Nicole exploded. Nicole took out an earbud, expecting to hear a damn good reason as to why her right arm was going to be blue for the rest of the vacation. Unable to even look at her friend, Kate remained sitting with her back towards the aisle, her eyes bulging out of their sockets. "Listen to the voices," Kate simply instructed. Nicole concentrated for a second before saying, "I don't hear any-" And that's when the other boy spoke.

"Well we're here now, let's just relax," stated a familiar voice that gave Nicole the shivers (and not the good kind). The air inside Nicole's lung instantly dissipated. "No. Fucking. Way," Nicole exclaimed in a barely audible whisper. The two slowly slid down their chairs to avoid being seen. "It's them! What do we do?" Kate mouthed in a frantic whisper.

"Stay. Cool," Nicole mouthed back.

Ella looked around the shuttle and crinkled her nose. "Maybe get one without so many… people," the brunette said in a disgusted one. Nicole ducked behind Kate, avoiding the other girl's gaze. Nicole's face morphed into one resembling a crying Kim Kardashian. "They know we're here!" Nicole whispered to her equally panicked friend. Kate had already moved onto the second step of grief: denial. "Maybe it's not even them," Kate reassured, "We could just be freaking out for nothing."

Jo looked around the cabin to see why Ella was so upset. She didn't understand what Ella was talking about. These all seemed like nice people! TAnd that's when she locked eyes with one of the passengers sitting beside them. That hair seemed awfully familiar. Suddenly, her eyes lit up upon remembering where she'd seen it before. "Oh my gosh!" she gasped. Kate's eyes widened. She nearly dove underneath the seat."Shit. Abort ship. Abort. Ship," Kate hissed to her friend.

"What does that even mean!?" Nicole harshly whispered back, still crouched low in her seat. Jo leaned all the way across the aisle. She was practically a foot away when she said, "Kate?! What are you- Oh my gosh, Nicole?!" Nicole peeked through her fingers to see the thrilled girl gawking at her. Nicole slid closer to Kate and asked, "Ok, who the hell is she and why does she know my name?" Kate winced. "It's a long story, just go with it," she whispered to Nicole before turning round and grinning widely, "Hey Jo! How's it going? Long time no see!"

"I know right? It feels like it was just yesterday!" Jo exclaimed.

"It sorta was yesterday but," Kate mumbled before loudly replying, "I knoooow! Saaaame!"

Jordan squeezed his eyes shut. What were the odds… To say that Jo was excited would've been an understatement. The moment Kate confirmed her identity, Jo whipped around and practically knocked Jordan over with the taps she was giving him. "Jordan, Jordan, Jordan," she repeated with each hit, "Guess who's here? You remember Kate, right?"

Kate balled up her hands in reaction to the mention of her name. If only he _didn't_ remember her. Actually, if only she didn't remember _him._ Jordan turned around, already aware of Kate's presence. He'd recognize that fake-ass polite tone anywhere. "Yeah, hey," Jordan greeted with a head nod.

Nicole's eyebrows furrowed at the situation. What kind of question was that? And how did Kate know this girl? And how does she know Jordan? And why wouldn't Jordan remember Kate? It's not like they left on forgettable terms. "Of course he remembers," Nicole began to point out. Kate shot up instantly. "OH HAY, HAVE YOU MET NICOLE YET?!" Kate loudly interrupted. Nicole leaned back into her seat. What the fu-

But before Nicole could smack her supposed "best friend" upside the head for throwing her under the bus, the group was distracted by the sound of someone choking in the row in front of the bubbly blonde's. Ella turned to her boyfriend, revolted. "Ethan, what's the matter with you?" she criticized. Ethan hit his chest in an attempt to get all the water out. Nicole nearly dropped dead at the sight of him. "Ok, now I understand what abort ship means," she thought aloud.

Jo wasted no time. She quickly turned her attention to the freaked out girl beside Kate. "I'm such a huge fan of your videos!" Jo gushed, "They're like artsy meets indie meets depressing." Nicole's eyebrows furrowed. She didn't know if that was supposed to be an insult or a compliment, but judging by Jo's animated expression, Nicole surmised it must've been a good thing; or at least, as close to a good thing as this girl was able to think of.

"Thanks. Well, it looks like this van's a liiiiittle snug, so we're just going to try and squeeze our way out-" Nicole commented. But as Nicole began to get up, the bus lurched forward, knocking her back down. "Alright folks, looks like we're full and heading our way to Universal Studios!" the driver announced. Kate looked over to Nicole who was still recovering from the sudden fall. "-back into our seats," Nicole finished.

Jo could barely keep still. After all, she was lucky enough to get on the bus with two of her top favorite YouTubers. Nicole had this air of mysterious silence to her and all her videos came out so artsy. Jo couldn't wait to crack into that brain of hers. While Kate, on the other hand, was literally a ball of hilarity. And she was so sweet too! Jo nearly groaned aloud. They were going to be such good friends, she just knew it. "Oh my gosh, we're bus buddies! Isn't this cool?" Jo exclaimed.

"Macarena cool…" Nicole dully replied.

Kate had to cover her mouth from bursting out laughing at the comment. Thankfully, the remark was lost on Jo who turned her attention to her own snarky companion. "I want you both to meet Ella," Jo turned to the brunette in the front, "Ella, this is Kate and Nicole. They run a YouTube channel called twoawkwardgirls." Ella's eyes perked up at the mention of the channel. "Is it like a beauty channel? Do you guys travel around the world like Ethan and Jordan?" she asked. Nicole scoffed."Oh boy, do we wish we could travel around the world like Ethan and Jordan," she muttered spitefully.

Kate shot a quick glare in Nicole's direction. There were far too many people here that could potentially eavesdrop on this conversation. Anyone of them could pass around the rumor that there was tension between them and nobody needed _that_ getting around. Honestly, Kate was trying to forget it herself; but that proved to be a little difficult with Jordan sitting a breath away. Let's just say the sight of him made her a _little_ nervous.

"We, uh, just haven't had the opportunity to. We mostly talk about random things we do. Not that we do a lotta stuff, well, we kinda do, that's why we have so many videos up. But they're all kinda pointless. Well no, we put a lot of work into them. Kinda. Sometimes," Kate had to pause to let her rambling train of thought remember the original question, "Um...no, it's not a beauty channel. Although it can be…?" Kate turned to Nicole for some help. Her partner sighed. And Kate was the eloquent one of the two. "It's a channel about our lives in Southern California. So vlogs, short films, random tags, and stories. Things that like," Nicole simply defined.

With Nicole waking up in bed with random guys and Kate completely losing her ability to speak, this trip was becoming more like the Twilight Zone than a vacation. Ella's nose scrunched up at the response. "That's it?" Ella asked, to which Kate nodded, "Oh." Ella immediately relaxed into her seat. She almost preferred the bumbling one's answer than this one's; it was so boring. "It's really funny and like heartwarming and stuff," Jo jumped in, noticing Ella's loss of enthusiasm. Ella's smiled curved up tighter around the corners. "Uh huh, sure. Well, Ethan travels around the world and makes videos for people. Big-scale projects," Ella bragged.

Ella smiled at her boyfriend sitting beside her. She placed a hand onto Ethan's shoulder, causing both him and Nicole to tense up slightly. He had chosen the aisle seat because he wanted the leg room, but he was really wishing he could reconsider that decision right about now. "Well isn't that mah-velous?" Nicole enunciated in a thick British accent, "Has the Queen asked you for a video yet?" Nicole touched her chest as she fluttered her eyelashes. If this girl thought that she was going to get Nicole to feel bad about her YouTube channel because of Ethan's "abundant success" then she had another thing coming. Nicole had stopped caring about anything Ethan-related years ago.

After hearing the joke, Ethan had to stifle a laugh, earning him a glare from his girlfriend. Jo turned her attention to the other passengers around her. Maybe she knew someone else on this bus. Her eyes were drawn to the fellow blonde in the row behind Kate. "Oh hey! Danny, right?" Jo acknowledge.

Jordan immediately turned around at this comment. His eyes locked onto the blonde across the aisle. "Yeah. Hi Jo," Danny quickly nodded towards the man beside her, "Jordan." Jordan slightly nodded in return. "Who's your friend?" Jo asked, addressing the guy beside the window who was obviously enraptured in their conversation. Danny patted his friend on the back. "This is Ethan Harris. He's a filmmaker too," Danny introduced.

Jo's eyes lit up at the information. "Oh my gosh! His name is Ethan too!" she exclaimed as she looked between the two Ethans, "It's like you guys are twins or something!" Jo giggled as she turned to her boyfriend. "Oops, sorry, Jordan. Looks like you've been replaced!" You could practically feel everyone's eyes rolls at the joke.

Ethan took this opportunity to lean forward towards Nicole. "Hey, so last night was fun," he commented. Nicole remained stagnant in her seat. "Yeah. Good times, yo," she commented.

"Would you...wanna maybe-" Ethan began.

"Hi, I'm sorry, I'm just gonna steal Nicole for a second, ok?" Kate interrupted. She pulled Nicole forward and towards her. Kate's eyes nearly bulged out of her head as she hissed, " Do you think they know?" Ethan couldn't help but comment himself. "Who knows what?" he asked.

"Yeah, know what?" Jo repeated, her head only inches away from Kate's and Nicole's.

Kate slowly looked between Jo and Ethan, realizing just how closely packed they were on the bus. "Know...that...they're YouTubers too…" Kate finished.

"Oh my gosh, you are!?" Jo gasped, looking at the recently introduced boys.

"Jo, they just told you they were," Ella reminded.

"Ohh yeaah…" Jo remembered. She smiled to herself. Oops. Guess it just came in one ear and out through the other!

Nicole leaned over to Kate and whispered in a low tone, "Kate, this isn't the place to talk about it. Chill." Kate let out an exasperated sigh. "I can't! It's just so weird!" she whispered.

"I know right? It's like a movie or something," Jo's head remarked from a few inches away. She had jumped the aisle and was practically sitting with the girls now. Kate and Nicole stared at Jo in disbelief. Jo blinked twice before it clicked. "Wait, is this a private conversation?" she asked, pointing to the two of them. Nicole sighed. "Not anymore," she mumbled before looking out the window. Just 10 more minutes and they'd be at the park. Just 10 more minutes…


	7. Chapter 6: Making Moves

"So that's the story of how I mistook grapefruits for oranges!" Jo finished. She looked around at her audience, but was met with people rubbing their temples or having their head in their hands. The loudspeaker crackled to life as a voice proclaimed, "Alright folks, we have arrived at your destination. Please watch your head as you exit the shuttle and have a wonderful day!" Ethan Harris instantly jumped up from his seat. "Oh thank God," he exclaimed. The rest of the riders came to life as they got ready to get off the bus. Ella locked her phone and placed it into her her bag. "Finally, let's go," she told her boyfriend. Jo, herself, cheered as she followed her friends off the bus.

The hustle and bustle of the crowd was the perfect background for Kate to think, because damn. Seeing Jordan again was...horrible, to say the least. But it's ok, no big deal. It's not like she was going to have to spend the whole day with him or anything. She'd be fine! Or at least, she was until she bumped into Jordan right as he was walking towards the aisle. Kate ricocheted back slightly and placed a hand onto his chest to steady herself. Blue met brown once more and neither of the two could breathe. Neither of them had been this close since London. And they haven't even touched since months before then.

The rest of the passengers loudly shuffled their way to the front. Jordan muttered a quick apology and followed the line out. "Ugh, that took forever! Let's go," Nicole said as she put her earbuds away. She took a step forward, expecting Kate to do the same, but found no movement whatsoever. "Kate?" she called out, "Kate!" Kate stood motionless. "He's really here," she thought aloud.

Nicole sighed. She knew that seeing the Banks was going to be difficult, (which included their girlfriends; once of which made the entire cabin endure listening to her rattle on about her confusion with produce) but this was nothing they couldn't handle! She placed her hands onto Kate's shoulders. "Ok, Kate, I know this is really weird for you," Nicole empathized, guiding Kate out, "but you have to get. Off. The. Bus!" And with one more shove, out came Kate from the double doors. Nicole exhaled, flinging her hair out of her face. She turned towards the driver with a menacing look. "You have FAILED me, sir. I hope you enjoy the rest of your day!" Nicole scoffed. She whipped back around, head held high, and marched off the bus.

Jo looked like a child on their first time to an amusement park. She marveled at the roller coasters peering over any other structure, the smell of greasy fair food in the air, and the amused screams of paying patrons. She could've shed a tear right then and there, but she had just cried herself out watching the Notebook last night so that would have to wait.

Jo turned to face the group, smiling as wide as she could. "Ok so where are we off to first? I was thinking the Mummy ride, but-" Before Jo could fully explain her itinerary, someone interrupted before things got really out of hand. "Whoa whoa whoa," Ethan Harris said waving his arms, "What do you mean, 'we'?" He put extra emphasis on the word to make it known to all of them that to remain separate would be best.

But Jo wasn't exactly the best at picking up hints. "We're all hanging out together, right? It'd be fun!" Her face looked so innocently happy that nobody could tell her 'no' in fear the blonde child might combust into tears. So instead, everyone started to mumble excuses to get out of the sticky situation. Nicole looked over at her best friend whose forehead resembled a Shiba Inu's. She knew that look too well- Kate was either about to explode with word vomit or pass out; neither was very appealing.

Nicole needed a distraction to get away from the group. Quick. So Nicole stood her ground and announced loud and proud, "Kate and I have to go pee." The murmuring stopped as they all turned to look at the two girls. Kate squeezed her eyes shut while Nicole was completely unphased. Ethan Harris was the only one that started to smile, while the rest of the group's faces ranged from annoyance to confusion. After an awkward pause that felt like an eternity, Nicole realized it was still her turn to speak.

"Let's go, pee buddy," she said after she grabbed Kate's arm. Kate was dragged around the corner where Nicole began unveiling her genius plan. "Ok breathe. Look, we're just gonna go back out, tell them that we have to go back to the hotel because we 'forgot something' and get away from them. Then it's just the two of us and this entire park to ourselves. I will be constantly on the lookout for the twins so that you can completely enjoy this day to its fullest and not have to deal with any close encounters. We gucci?"

Kate stood there amazed. "I knew there was a reason I kept you around. Granted, I was started to reconsider it when you announced our urinary functions, but consider my faith restored!" Kate grinned.

"I thought it was because you wouldn't be able to edit the videos yourself, but ok," Nicole said under her breath. "Let's go."

They made their way back to the group and Kate walked with a newfound confidence. Everything Nicole had said was pretty much foolproof and daring enough that it just might work. But when they returned, the twins and their girlfriends had vanished. "Uh. Not to sound unhappy, but where did they go?" Nicole asked, puzzled.

"They said they were going to meet up with some friends and took off," Danny answered.

Kate immediately sprung up as Nicole slumped down. "Well fuck! I planned this all out for nothing!" she exclaimed frustrated. Kate visibly relaxed as a small smile appeared on her face. "Aw, what a shame," Kate empathized.

Ethan Harris looked at the disappointed coordinator as if she was speaking ancient Anglo-Saxon. "You're joking, right?" he commented. How could she be upset about being away from Miss Bubbles? That girl made him feel annoyed and intimidated all at the same time; something he didn't think was possible.

With the pressure off of her shoulders, Kate was free to experience the park with the full amount of excitement it deserved. Granted it was no Disney World, but you make do with what you've got. "Come on, we've got a whole park to see!" Kate said as she latched onto Nicole's arm and started walking. Ethan turned to Danny with a baffled look. Nicole _was_ just kidding right? Danny just smirked and shook his head before he took off to catch up to the girls. Ethan sighed, accepting that his question would just remain unanswered, and followed suit.

Kate wasn't exactly sure where she was going, but she was loving every minute of it. There were carnival-themed foods every 15 steps that filled the air with nostalgia. Funnel cakes drenched in powdered sugar, frozen bananas that immediately start to thaw with the humidity, fat burgers and fries, and more. Her appetite was on cloud 9 right now and her stomach would be paying for it later.

All the while, Nicole was on full security mode, checking her surroundings every few steps. She could sense that Kate was in a trance from the new surroundings so she couldn't unlatch the death grip on her arm to get a 360 scope. Just because the twins' group left, it didn't mean that they wouldn't be out of sight for the rest of the day and she was not about to be caught off-guard this time. She didn't even mind how tight Kate was squeezing her; it just meant she was doing a damn good job of keeping the twins out of sight and out of mind.

The guys took this time to get a firsthand look at how these two polar opposites worked together. Danny fully understood why Nicole kept studying her surroundings; he wouldn't want the twins and their girls ruining his day either. Ethan's was focused on Nicole too.

" _Psh, let's be honest here," Harry commented with a wave of his hand. "When was Nicole not on Ethan's mind. Am I right, ladies?" The girls encircling him laughed at the remark. Nobody knew exactly when it happened, but while John was telling the story, Harry had taken a seat smack dab in the center of the crowd. He had blended in so seamlessly that barely anyone noticed he was out of place. "Honestly, he seems pretty obsessed with her," a girl remarked. Harry scoffed. "Girl, you don't know the half of it. One time he spent a full 45 minutes just talking about how she can only eat things one at a time, like she has to finish all the fries before moving on to the burger," Harry informed sassily._

 _The crowd mumbled their comments amongst themselves. Harry leaned into a trio of girls who were discussing it. "Weird, I agree," he whispered before loudly proclaiming, "But you know, no judgement! I've seen worse." Harry placed covered half of his mouth with his hand. "You didn't hear this from me, but Julian can't chew before taking a sip of something. I think it might be a salivary problem," he spilled through the corner of his mouth. Giggles were heard once more. "So do Ethan and Nicole end up together cause it'd suck if they don't," a guy asked._

" _Obviously, why else would he talk about her?" a girl interrupted._

" _But_ how _? Because it seems to me that the girl isn't the least bit interested," another fellow chimed in._

 _Eyes returned to Harry for the answer. He sat cross-legged with his hand to his chin as he mulled over the question himself. "Good point," he nodded, "Yeah, how did they end up together? They seem like polar opposites to me." Harry looked to John. John instantly felt the eyes of the entire room on him, knocking him backwards. "Why are you asking me? You were there!" John exclaimed. Harry frozen, allowing the phrase to sink in, before chuckling to himself. "Oh yeah, that's right!"_

 _Harry hopped back into the front. He stood tall and proud. "Why don't you take a seat there, mate, I'll take it from here," Harry said as he patted John's shoulder. Because he was a little pleased to be relieved from storytelling duty, John overlooked Harry's condescension. John sat down in a chair and laid back, ready for the full force of Harry's narration. "So how did they end up together, you ask? Well, I must say, it wasn't easy. Ethan had a loooot of bumps along the way…"_

If studying this girl was a sport, he'd have the olympical gold medal. Honestly, if it was _anything_ else, his attention span was like a goldfish in a bowl, but when it came to Nicole he was Sherlock mothereffin' Holmes. Nicole was final examinations and Ethan was going to pass with flying colors. Ethan was concentrating _so_ hard-

 _("Just get on with it!" a deep voice yelled. Harry whipped around to face the rude interruption to see who was the culprit. He locked eyes with John who just smiled and waved. Harry shook his head before clearing his throat and continuing on.)_

But before Ethan could finally connect the dots on Nicole's odd behavior, Kate stopped in front of a line. She cocked her head to the side as she read the sign that read "Studio Tours". She wondered if it was like the Star Tours ride at Disneyland. But then again, the line would probably be a little longer than that, right? So what was this? "Oh good, we found it! The only ride I go on at Universal," Nicole said before a conniving smile appeared on her face, "And then I can go back to the hotel room and sleep this hangover off…"

Kate mustered up the fakest laugh she could to tell Nicole she wasn't having it today. No moping around, no ditching her to go back "home", no half days because someone doesn't know how to say 'no' to alcohol. They were going to have a fun day, damn it. Nicole felt Kate squeeze her arm tighter. But before she could complain, she was yanked into line.

They managed to get on a shuttle after a few minutes of waiting. Somehow, the duos got mixed up with Danny pairing up with Kate and Ethan with Nicole. When they got to their seats, Danny, being the gentleman that he is, let Kate slide into the seat first. Now, our man, Ethan tried the same thing, but Nicole refused. She preferred the end of the seat. This did bruise Ethan's hopes a little, but he had a lot more where that came from. If he was going to get Nicole to see him as relationship material, he was going to need to try hard and try often.

Thankfully, he wasn't in this alone. Ethan pulled out his phone and secretly shot Danny a text. "This isn't going so well," Ethan texted. Danny's phone dinged in his lap as Ethan's name flashed on screen. He sighed inwardly. "Well pull yourself together," he typed back. If Ethan really wanted to make progress with Nicole, he was going to have to man up and do it himself. Danny had other things to worry about.

With their current seating arrangements, Danny could finally strike up a conversation with Kate. He hadn't spoken to her since earlier that morning and with the whole Banks situation, he was sure she was thrown for another loop. At least now she was trapped in this tram next to him for the next 20 minutes, where they could talk about anything and everything. It was perfect, perfect, perfect!

(" _Did you just go into a Yzma voice?" John asked. Harry sighed at another interrupted. "Yes, it adds to the character. Now, can I continue?" John grinned and motioned for Harry to go on._ )

The tram started on it's way through the lot. The tour guide began rattling off the introduction, but Kate was too busy staring out the side to notice. The universe had a twisted sense of humor. These things happen but she can't luck out and win the lottery. Seriously, what were the odds that they'd be on the exact same tram at the exact same time? "You seem excited," Danny observed. Kate came out of her inner loathing to address the kind boy beside her. "Oh yeah, totes," she managed to say unsarcastically, "You too! You film buffs would love this sort of thing."

"Yeah, it's interesting to see behind the scenes," Danny continued.

"Good," Kate replied before staring out the window again.

Danny looked out to see if an attraction was coming up, but the tour had just started and nothing really came up yet. She must've been thinking about the Banks again. "You alright there?" Danny asked. Kate whipped around. "Huh? Oh yeah! I'm great! It's all great!" she exuberantly answered.

"Uh huh...And seeing Jordan again hasn't gotten you acting all weird," Danny said.

"Whaat? Noo!" Kate looked down at her lap and mumbled, "Maybe, just a little."

Danny smiled. At least she was admitting it now. Isn't that one of the first steps to recovery or something? "Relax," he assured her, "It's all going to be ok." Kate scoffed. What did he know? The universe was a lot more malicious than any of them previously thought. If it wanted to continuously bring Jordan back into her life and cause her physical and emotional trauma just for fun, then it would. "What if we take your mind off of it?" Danny offered. Kate's eyes lit up at the proposal. "Please!" she exclaimed.

An average looking home sat ahead of them. It was yellow with a green tiled roof. Beyond that was an ominous wooden building that seemed to loom over the entire set. Decrepit grey stairs built into the small hill led the pathway from the elongated house to the imminent building. "Alright, do you know Psycho?" Danny asked and waited for Kate's nod, "Well that's the house they used for the main character."

"That's Norman Bate's house?!" Kate exclaimed, nearly leaning out the vehicle, "No way! That was such a great movie! That character was amazing!"

And with that, Kate was pretty well distracted for the rest of the ride. Danny and her spoke about movies, characters, and sets. She was pretty interested in the behind-the-scenes of it all. Even when it came to movies she's never watched, Kate seemed absolutely fascinated with the production of it all. Kate was asking all the right questions and Danny had all the right answers. If only it was going on half as easily on the other side of the tram.

Nicole had overheard Danny's prompting from her seat. She had to give it to him; he was good at this. She wouldn't have expected that he did a lot of prepping beforehand if it wasn't for his speed at pointing things out before the tour guide could. Either this wasn't his first time on the ride or he did some research last night. It was sweet anyways. She was glad someone could distract Kate from thinking about Jordan Banks.

Nicole suddenly felt the eyes of her seat mate on her. And now to handle _this_ guy. She sighed. "Are you going to start with the small talk too?" she asked. Ethan was taken aback. How did she know? Could she read minds too? It'd be better if he just played it off. "Psh, whaaaaat? What's small talk? I don't even know what that is!" Ethan exaggerated. Nicole rolled her eyes as a smile tugged at her lips. It was refreshing to see that not all guys were smooth talkers.

Ethan leaned in Nicole's direction. "Soooo," he held out as he got close enough, "Did you enjoy last night?" Nicole threw her hands up. "Great, This is just great. I'm stuck on a tram that's going 10 miles per hour next to the dorkiest guy I've ever held a convo with," she retorted. Ethan sunk down in his seat. Nicole could already hear Kate lecturing her in her head. "Nicole, he's just trying to be nice," Kate would say. Nicole mentally batted away the voice in her head. Man, was it annoying. Right, but annoying nonetheless.

"Yes, I did enjoy myself last night," Nicole confessed flatly. Ethan perked up like a friggin pop tart. He would've shot a fist in the air if he didn't think it would weird Nicole (and probably some other passengers) out. She had a fun time last night too! Good. They were definitely getting somewhere. "But don't think that's going to be a recurring theme, alright? I just needed someone to help me get a little drunk-" Nicole began.

"And I was the closest person, yeah yeah, I got it," Ethan finished. Nicole looked over to see a grin on Ethan's face. He wiggled his eyebrows at her her. "But you had fun, right?" he nudged her slightly. Nicole looked away and exhaled a sigh of contempt. "Well that's all that matters to me. So, glad I could be of assistance," Ethan replied. Nicole rolled her eyes. Great, another cocky British guy. Maybe it was all that tea they were drinking. She knew there was a good reason they tossed it all into the harbor.

Ethan didn't even care that his attitude was probably getting on Nicole's nerves. He was fully content knowing that she enjoyed spending the night with him. They had gone from being complete strangers (with her not wanting to have anything to do with him) to having their first full-on conversation. Hell, he got to see what she's like bat shit drunk. And all in the course of a couple of hours. The guy couldn't help but be smug for the rest of the ride. Wouldn't you be? All he wanted to do now was get that opportunity again and break down those walls that only came down partially last night. He had so many unanswered questions that were taking up every corner of his mind. He wanted to know as much as he could about her, and this was the time to do it, right?

Ethan was about to try and ask her another question to keep the conversation going, but all of Nicole's attention was out at the scenery around her. The Studio Tours in Orlando was much different than the one in Los Angeles, so she couldn't help but wonder at the unfamiliar sets. Looking at how movies and tv shows were made and the amount of production work went into a single scene fascinated her.

Nicole had this wide, sincere smile plastered all over her face. Ethan just couldn't let himself break that concentration. She seemed so happy. A smile grew on Ethan's face too. Maybe just sitting next to her would be enough. He could see the corner of her mouth curved upwards at every new set. Her eyes must've been all bright and filled with wonder too. Ethan leaned back in his seat, soaking up the joy radiating from Nicole. Yeah, this was enough.

(" _Boooo!" John cried out from the crowd. "I'm tired of hearing Ethan miss his opportunities. When are things gonna get better for him?" Surrounding members of the crowd began nodding and vocalizing their agreements. Harry simply glared at John to show his distaste for the interruption. After an exaggerated pause, he started, "Are you telling the story or am I?" He crossed his arms and began tapping his foot. John raised his arms as a surrender, turning the attention back to Harry."Now, before I was so_ rudely _interrupted," Harry continued smiling devilishly, "the next ride is where things started to look better for the two of them."_ )

 **A/N: Part 2 of this chapter will be updated on Friday, 3/4.**


	8. Chapter 7: Losing More Than an Appetite

The Jurassic Park ride ended up being the highlight of the day. That and having to walk past the ever-growing mob of fangirls that continued encircling the twins and their girlfriends. The crowd was still growing strong after the ride and didn't look like it would be stopping anytime soon, which lifted Nicole and Kate's moods.

The four of them continued to walk around the park, checking out the shops and scenery. But Nicole felt mentally exhausted after the torturous experience of the last ride, and Kate could sense it too. Nicole had missed too many opportunities for sly remarks (which was highly unlike her). So Kate suggested that they all head back to the hotel and chill out for the rest of the night, and with that, they made their way back to the bus shuttles.

Nicole took her usual seat by the window and was too exhausted to care who was sitting next to her. She just needed some music and a little shut eye, and just hoped that whoever was next to her could respect that.

Now that Kate knew Nicole could tolerate Ethan, there was no stopping Kate's progressive meddling with her best friend's love life. After all, there's only a small step from toleration to infatuation. So Kate purposely took a seat in the row behind her friend, giving Ethan the perfect opportunity to take her place.

Fortunately, Ehan got the hint. He really couldn't help it at this point. He didn't feel like he was done protecting her. When he sat down, she already was blasting music, but it wasn't as aggressive as he expected it to be. It was something lighthearted yet melodic with a bit of an edge, like Indie Rock. He didn't mean to stare, he really didn't, but now that he had witnessed what she's like when she's not so intimidating, how could he not?

Nicole finally turned around, expecting Kate to talking about how much she enjoyed her day, but instead, she was met by Ethan's hazel eyes. He mentally prepared himself for some snarky comment about how he should stop ogling her, but Nicole just softly nodded and turned her attention back to the window.

Nicole couldn't help but replay what had happened on the ride. She hadn't experienced that kind of kindness in God knows how long. Maybe he wasn't as annoying as she thought he was. Or maybe she wasn't as intimidating as she thought she was. She didn't know which thought was more terrorizing…

The glare from the window made her face inwards. She could feel Ethan's gaze still fixated on her, so she stared right back. A staring contest ensued. Ethan looked at her in awe. "I can't believe it. She's looking right at me, no eye-rolling, no glaring, nothing. Wait, is she actually… oh my God, I think she's smiling at me," Ethan thought.

Nicole couldn't believe it either. Ethan just looked right at her, no hesitation or fear. It didn't look like he was going to break his stare in this little game of theirs. "You know, he's not as terribly bad looking as I thought he was when I first met him," she thought. He was looking around her face again, doing that analyzing thing he's been doing all day.

"What are you thinking about?" Nicole asked curiously, breaking the silence. Ethan thought for a minute before answering. "You wouldn't like it if I told you."

Nicole rolled her eyes and sighed annoyingly at his response, turning her attention back to out the window. Typical. A guy truly has only one thing on his mind.

Granted, Nicole was right to think that she was on his mind, but what she didn't know was that all he was thinking about was when it would be the next time he could see her. And the time after that. And how close they could become. And how she was on his mind from the moment he woke up to the moment he closed his eyes to sleep. It would be pathetic to let her know any of that, so Ethan kept it to himself.

Nicole turned back to him and boldly asked, "Why do you like me?" There was no point in being around the bush about it it. It was obvious that he did. Even from the moment they first met, she knew he had instantly fallen for her. At the time she was a little annoyed with this, making her question his common sense. But then she remembered her first love and how she lost all of her own common sense over him.

"You have the most beautiful resting bitch face I've ever seen," Ethan said without missing a beat.

A huge grin grew onto Nicole's face as she brimmed with joy. _That_ was both a pleasant surprise and a very good answer.

Ethan started to feel faint. "My God, that smile could end world hunger, create world peace, turn life into a never-ending musical," he thought. Nicole started laughing at Ethan's dumfounded expression. It was like he had stopped breathing again.

Now, any normal person would be upset at getting laughed at but Ethan was definitely not normal, especially when it came to Nicole. He had made her laugh. And it was the most beautiful laugh he had ever heard. It was high-pitched, sudden, and loud. And he was the cause of it. Ethan couldn't help but smile proudly himself.

 **Back at the hotel...**

"The look…" Nicole panted in between laughs, "The look on his face!" She was doubled over with laughter, leaning onto Kate's body. "They're probably still there!" exclaimed Kate, eyes watering. Neither of them could remember the last time they laughed this hard. It was such a perfect plan. Slip the news of the brothers' fame. Allow it to go viral. Watch the fireworks commence. A perfect way to enjoy a day, don't you think?

The boys had rushed upstairs into their room. Well, Danny rushed them upstairs; Ethan was still in a bit of a daze, probably because of the water. Or Nicole. Or both, really. Anyways, someone had to look out for his health and if it wasn't going to be himself, then someone else should've stepped up to the plate.

So this left the girls alone in the lobby to laugh and reminisce. After the ride, they left the amusement park in relatively good moods. Thankfully, they had saved the Jurassic Park ride for last and with Ethan being the way he was, decided to call it a day. "Besides, everyone knows that the only amusement park that really matters is Disneyland," Kate had told them.

It took them a while to finally get their breathing back in order and their stomachs ached like crazy, but eventually Kate and Nicole were able to settle down. They were at an all-time high. Kate was beginning to feel like herself again; she was able to be close to Jordan, interact with him, and remain completely unaffected. Granted, probably not in the most polite of ways, but it was still progress nonetheless.

Nicole, too, was beginning to feel at ease here, even with Ethan Banks around. In fact, Ethan Harris may have been the specific reason why she was feeling comfortable here. He's done a lot for her. And whether she liked it or not, Ethan was definitely becoming a presence in her life.

Their laughter had turned into sighs. They needed to wait at the lobby for the guys to return. They were veterans of this event and the girls counted on them to know what to do. Besides, it wasn't like they knew anyone else here. "Hey! You two are from twoawkardgirls right?" asked an upbeat voice.

Nicole recognized the boy instantly. "Oh my gosh, it's Tyler Woods," Nicole thought aloud. Kate's eyes shot up after recognizing the incredibly famous YouTuber.

Tyler Woods could've been the face for the entire company itself. He was hilarious, relatable, and entertaining beyond measure. Watching him was like going to an amusement park without leaving your house.

"I knew it was you guys! I'm such a fan," he exclaimed. Nicole couldn't believe what she just heard. Tyler Woods was a fan of their videos. Tyler Woods has watched their videos. And Tyler Woods actually _liked_ their videos. She could've passed out with unadulterated joy at this point.

"Thank you! I'm such a huge fan!" Nicole gushed. Tyler smiled at the compliment. "I'm so excited to meet you guys! I was going to look around for you guys at the convention center tomorrow," Tyler informed.

"We were going to do the same thing!" Nicole exclaimed. The two newly acquainted friends laughed at the adorable coincidence. "I just had to meet the people in charge of BoyZone. Some of your questions are savage!" he exclaimed. A grin broke out on Kate's face as she looked away. "Well, hot guys have had it too good for too long. They deserve a little tough love," Kate winked.

"Truuu!" Tyler agreed in between laughs.

From there, the conversation went well. In the small time span, they discussed favorite videos, collabs, and even ideas. Unfortunately, they were only able to spend a few bits of dialogue for each subject. Tyler looked down at his phone that was blowing up with notifications. "Listen, I have to go, but I'm having a little dinner tonight with some other YouTubers and I'd love it if you guys came. What do you think?" he asked.

The girls couldn't say yes fast enough. This was a chance of a lifetime. Tyler was elated. He told them that they were all going to meet downstairs in the lobby and carpool to the restaurant. Then they swapped numbers, hugged (you know, the usual Hollywood-esque ritual), and out Tyler went; probably off to greet his hundreds of fans or star in a movie or fangirl over celebrities. The usual.

"Yes, you heard it here first folks, twoawkwardgirls just made it into the big leagues," Kate announced as she turned to Nicole, "We're going to Tyler Woods' birthday party!" Kate grabbed onto Nicole's shoulder and the both of them began jumping up and down.

 **A few hours later...**

Nicole was still at the sink getting ready while Kate waited impatiently at the bed. This was going to be her first time meeting Tyler's crew and she was not about to make a bad first impression. Her hair was hard enough to handle as it is and this Floridian humidity was not helping. After taming all of her curls, she picked up her make-up palette. She decided to go with a neutral brown smokey eye look, as it would complement her LBD dress.

 _("How do you know about all of this make-up stuff?" a girl asked from the crowd. Other people began nodding and repeating the question too. Harry sighed. "Because I happen to notice when women look different. I'm just a good boyfriend like that," he proudly proclaimed. The women in the audience smiled in response while the men stared at him in shock. This guy was making them look bad. One of guy's girlfriend was already nudging at his side as if to say 'See? You could be like that'. "Aaand, I spend a little too much time on YouTube," Harry quickly added, "Michelle Phan is bae.")_

"Nicole, are you done yet?" Kate called out. It was only a couple minutes away from their meet-up time. Her foot was shaking as she fiddled with the sleeves of her dress. Nicole went over her eyeliner. "Almost!" she called out. She could already tell Kate was getting jittery from the sounds of Kate's feet knocking into the bed frame. "Why don't you go down there first and I'll meet you there?" Nicole proposed.

"Really?" Kate asked, sitting up. Nicole voiced her agreement. Kate stood up eagerly. She grabbed her cell phone and strapped on her heels. "Ok! I'll be right downstairs!" And before Nicole could voice a reply, she heard the sound of footsteps scattering out the door and the door slamming shut thus finally leaving her alone to blast her favorite Drake song to get pumped for the night.

Kate nervously walked down the hallway, spinning her phone in her hands. She was about to meet up with famous YouTubers without her channel partner. What was she thinking? Nicole was always the one who actually knew who all of these people were; without her, Kate would end up looking like a complete idiot. She waiting by the elevator door contemplating turning back around, when the elevator opened revealing a well-dressed gentleman.

The man stepped aside, giving Kate room to step inside the elevator. She smiled politely before turning her back to him to face the doors. The spiky-haired blond looked his fellow rider over. Her deep green dress complemented her tanned skin as her long black hair flowed down in slight curls. Her dress flared at mid-thigh, showing a decent set of legs. The blond nodded approvingly. It'd be rude not to at least say hi, right?

"Hi," he greeted, leaning over to her. Kate turned her head politely, but still avoid eye contact. "Hi," she replied. The man leaned over again. "Are you here for the convention?" he asked.

"Yeah. You?" Kate reciprocated, feeling obliged to ask.

"Yeah! I'm Emerson Jones," he introduced himself.

Kate was forced to completely turn around to shake his hand. "Kate Lin," she introduced before turning back around. Emerson took a step forward so that he was beside her now. He let out a short laugh. "Is that your first name or your full name?" he teased. Kate resisted the urge to scoff out loud. As if she hadn't heard that one before. "Both," she replied shortly.

Emerson smiled. He could definitely work with this. The first step to attracting a female is to separate yourself from the crowd.

 _("Emerson taught me this a while ago. That man is a genius," Harry informed.)_

Pro Tip #1: One easy way to do this is by calling a girl by a different name so that she'll always think of you whenever that name comes up. And since Kate was obviously a nickname, all he had to do was give her a different one. "So, Kat, what's your Youtube channel?"

Kate wrinkled her forehead. Kat? Of all the nicknames he could've given her, he went with the one that reminded her of litter boxes? Great. Just great. "I run one with my friend. Twoawkwardgirls? It's pretty small," she replied. Emerson nodded slowly. The name sounded familiar, but he couldn't remember any videos at the moment. But then again, he was a little too preoccupied with thinking up ways to get this girl's number to think of anything else at the moment. "I feel like I've heard of it. I mostly do vlogs, what about you, Kat?" he asked.

"A little bit of this and little bit of that," Kate vaguely replied, "Variety _is_ the spice of life." Emerson laughed (a little too loudly) at the remark. "True. You always should," Emerson paused for dramatic effect, "Spice up your life." He grinned widely, waiting for the pun to sink in.

Pro Tip #2: Puns are always the way to a woman's heart. Actually, they're the way to anyone's heart. Kate cocked her head as she let the pun sink in. She turned to look at the genius who created something so wonderful.

(" _Which is not what she told me, but it's accurate," Harry added._ )

"DId you just reference the Spice Girls?" Kate asked, looking amused. Emerson simply replied with a wide grin. Kate rolled her eyes, scoffed, and turned back around. Of all the stupid things she's ever heard…

Finally, the elevator door opened with a relieving ding. Kate took the first step out of the box and tossed a short "bye" over her shoulder before walking away. Emerson casually rested his hands in his pockets as a lazy grin remained on his face. He could definitely hear a smile when she said goodbye to him. If it wasn't for the door opening, he was sure she would've given him her number. But then again, who wouldn't? He was a pro at this!

Once she was far enough away to be seen, Kate took to her phone. She opened up her conversation with Nicole and typed in a few words into the box before quickly erasing it. There was no point in sending anything. If she wanted Nicole to get down here faster, she would have to refrain from distracting her.

So Kate kept on clicking random things on her home screen just to look busy enough to avoid anymore unheeded encounters. "Honestly, Tyler is always late," complained a sweet-sounding voice from close by. Kate looked up from her phone at the source.

The woman must've been in her 20s. She wore white pleated chiffon dress with pearls accenting the top half. Her hair hung down in wide curls accenting the brown-to-blonde ombre. Now, Kate should've just gone up to her and introduce herself; after all, it was obvious this girl was here for Tyler's dinner too, but Kate couldn't. She's seen this girl around before. She was BIG on the YouTube scene and going up to someone of that caliber was quite intimidating.

"He's probably trying to pick a good outfit," her boyfriend, Freddie, replied. Georgiana scoffed. "We both know he probably got distracted by tumblr again," she confirmed. She looked around for a mirror to adjust her hair. If Tyler was going to be late, she might as well put this time to good use. It was while she was looking around that Georgiana noticed our girl in green.

"Oh hello," Georgiana greeted as she approached Kate. Kate froze when she noticed the famous YouTuber approaching her. Luckily for her, her fight-or-flight response kicked her subconsciousness into gear, veering her forward with a smile.

"Are you here for Tyler's dinner?" Georgiana asked. Kate nodded. "Yeah, we're supposed to meet here, right?" Kate questioned, already knowing the answer.

"That's right. We're just waiting for everyone else to arrive," she replied. Her boyfriend came over, looking down at his cell phone. "Alright, love, so Liam and Emerson just got to the lobby," he informed.

It didn't even take a minute for his information to prove accurate. Two boys strode through the lobby, gaining the attention of a few girls as they walked past, but then again, who could blame them. They were attractive guys and any of their millions of followers would testify to that.

"I see we're waiting on Tyler again," observed the gelled hair one. He wore a white and red checkered button-up, black pants, and crisp white vans. Kate looked on approvingly. _Ah, another attractive member of this group. Even better._ "We would've been here sooner if this one didn't make me wait for him," said Emerson. Kate watched as the familiar blonde went over to give Georgiana and Freddie a hug. As if this couldn't get any worse.

Thankfully, Kate wasn't left alone for long because Nicole sauntered in only a few seconds earlier. Kate nearly pounced on her friend as she entered the circle. Apparently all of these well-off, good-looking people were getting to her. Introductions were exchanged and within a minute, everyone knew everyone else's name. The boyfriend was Freddie Weakes. The sandy-haired, chereked one was Liam Driver. And well, we all know about the ever-present Emerson Jones.

"Now, I guess all we're waiting for is Tyler," Kate surmised. The group seemed a little small, but hey, who was she to judge. Maybe it just meant they were that tight-knit; and joining such an exclusive group significantly improved Kate's confidence.

"Actually, we're still waiting on a few more people," informed Freddie. Nicole and Kate looked around for another group of oncoming attractive people. Obviously, attractiveness was the unspoken requirement of the group as well as critical YouTube fame.

"Finally, here come the boys," Liam pointed out. Kate's and Nicole's faces couldn't whip towards that direction fast enough.

Imagine a slow motioned turn. Their eyes widened as the blurred details of the missing crew began clearing up. Styled brown hair. A sharp black blazer. A fitted charcoal button-up. Award-winning smiles. And two sets of mesmerizing blue-green eyes.

Both of the girls' mouths dropped open. "Shit," each of them thought. And by each of them, this also includes the boys. They stopped right in front of the girls, eyes wide and mouths closed. They stood face-to-face in silence; each unable to recover from the realization.

Liam and Emerson went over to greet the two boys, not noticing their shocked faces. "Took you long enough, Banks," teased Emerson as he gave Ethan Banks a hug. The boys were knocked out of their daze to greet everyone in the group respectively. "Well, Ella took a little while," Ethan nervously laughed.

He did not expect to see Nicole here. This was _his_ crew. Sure, Tyler was a bit of a social butterfly, but he's only been here two days! How the hell did he meet every single person in this convention already?

"Nice to see you again, Georgiana!" Ella greeted. Ethan winced internally at Ella's voice. She was definitely not going to be happy about this. Georgiana, Ella and Jo exchanged hugs. Georgiana turned to the other two girls, " Oh, this is Kate and-"

"Nicole!" squealed Jo as she wrapped her up in a hug. Nicole stood there, hands stuck to her sides, and smiled politely. "I didn't know you were coming to Tyler's dinner!" she exclaimed.

"I didn't even know you were friends," muttered Ella, arms crossed.

"Well, we met him in the lobby and he invited us to dinner," Kate informed.

"Wait, you guys already know each other?" Georgiana asked, looking between all of them.

"Are you kidding? We're practically best friends," Jo chimed in.

Jo grinned widely as she squeezed Nicole's arm which was encased in a firm grip thus leaving her unable to escape. "Hellooo guys!" Tyler's voice rang out. The group turned their focus onto the final, and most important, dinner guest.

While everyone took this time to crowd around their fashionably late host, Jordan glanced over to Kate. This was getting ridiculous. Sure, YouTube was a niche kind of group, but there shouldn't be this much overlap. He didn't even know they were friends. Ethan and Ella were conversing with Georgiana and Freddie while Jo was latched onto Nicole. He was on his own.

After taking a breath, Jordan went over to Tyler to wish him a happy birthday. Kate looked down at her feet while the two men hugged. Tyler looked over from Jordan to Kate with a smile. "Jordan, this is Kate. Kate, this is-" Tyler gestured to the model in the dark grey button-up.

"Jordan Banks," Kate finished. There was something about the way his name felt on her lips. It'd been years since she's last seen him, hell, even spoken of him. It felt foreign in her mouth. And yet, it rolled off her tongue as if she's said it so many times that she's explored every possible inflection, syllable, and letter.

"We've met," she clarified. Tyler cocked his head, curious to hear their "how we met" story. Kate just smiled and stared directly into Jordan's eyes. Apparently the paralyzing effect from last night had finally worn off. She had found her sense of self; and it was starting to freak Jordan out.

"We should get going if we're going to make that reservation," Freddie reminded. Jordan quickly turned to Freddie, thankful for the interruption. Kate looking at him like that was beginning to rattle his nerves. It was just too direct. At least when she was paralyzed, he didn't feel like she was staring down his soul. Jordan quickly followed behind Ethan who was talking to Tyler about some new video as they led the group out.

They had reserved a large private booth for the entire group. Tyler naturally sat in the middle with Georgiana on his right and Ethan on his left. Beside Ethan sat Ella (of course), followed by Jo, Jordan, and Liam. On the opposite side sat Freddie, Nicole, Kate, and Emerson, respectively.

Which meant that Kate was going to have to try to handle loverboy over here while also trying to hang with the cool kids. "You've ever had this before?" Emerson asked, leaning in far too closely. Kate sat straight in her seat with her arms crossed on the table. "Nope,' she replied.

Emerson was a bit surprised she wasn't pulling back, but that was sort of expected from the Pick-up Line Pro. It took him a while to finally place her, but after seeing her face, it was easy.

Guys throwing horrible pick-up lines at girls were common on YouTube, but a girl going up to "hot" guys with viewer submitted questions gained a lot of attention; especially when that girl would commonly slip in horrible, punny pick-up lines into every interview. The comments section alone was hilarious. And they knew it too.

Viewer-suggested pick-up lines were commonly slipped into those interviews. It was just one large, interactive punny mess. Now that he was in the same room with her, Emerson just couldn't help himself. It was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

"It's pretty cool, they toss the food in the air, set it on fire and whatnot. It's a really good show," Emerson informed. Kate smiled politely and nodded. Emerson rapped his fingers against the table. Usually, he would've just given up; no point in trying to hit on a girl who wasn't interested. But this girl was the Pick-Up Line Pro, all he had to do was draw it out. "It's really fun. I mean, choosing between this and Disney World would be a _toss-up_ ," Casper casually stated. He looked out the corner of his eye for a reaction, but found none.

"How's the weather treating you, Banks? Must've been a while since you've been out here," Liam asked Ethan. Ella smiled and placed a hand onto Ethan's arm. "Well, we did vacation in Italy a while ago, and the weather is pretty similar. So it's not that bad," she laughed.

Nicole resisted rolling her eyes. Vacation in Italy. How sweet. She'd bet that he probably spent all that time tanning her pale-ass skin. "But the humidity! I mean, California has heat, but it at least it doesn't make you feel all sticky. Right, Nicole?" Tyler asked.

Nicole sat up straight in her seat. "Uh, yeah," she looked around to notice all eyes on her, "It's so annoying. But it was worse in Jamaica." Georgiana's eyebrows perked up at this information. "You've been to Jamaica? How is it? I bet it's beautiful," she asked.

"Yeah, and it's hot. And you get hit on a lot. By practically everyone, honestly," Nicole replied.

Nicole went on to tell them about the awkward solicitations she had received. She got hit on by the bellboy, locals, the lifeguard, etc. And it wasn't even like "oh, you're so pretty that every guy hits on you" it was just that every guy is thirsty enough to hit on any girl there, especially tourists. "Which one was the worst one?" asked Liam.

"Hmm...probably that one time that one of the lifeguards at the resort tried to start a conversation about my love life in front of my family. Yeah, that wasn't the best approach to getting my number…" She looked out to the crowd and was met with mixed expressions of laughter and confusion.

Jo was really enjoying this. The last time she heard a funny pick-up line story was that one time her friend Amy was hit on by a guy at a carnival who kept trying to guess her weight and phone number. He was only off by a couple digits too! Which, by the way, did not make Amy happy. Word to the wise: always guess low. She bet someone as pretty as Nicole got hit on a lot too. In fact, wasn't she getting hit on today by that one guy? What was his name again? She could swear she's heard it before…

"Oooh, what about that one guy that's always staring at you?" Jo inquired about. NIcole's eyes grew wide in size. _Why_ Jo thought it was a good idea to bring up the babbling idiot would continue to puzzle her for the rest of the night. But it sure did get the attention of everyone else at the table.

Tyler and Georgiana seemed to be the most enthusiastic over this news. "OMG who?" they both exclaimed. Maybe if she just shrugged it off it'd work. Denial is always the answer. "No one?" she replied.

"You know, the one that's always following you around. He kinda looks like a lost dog or something," Jo elaborated.

Nicole glared at Jo from the other side of table. She should've known this blonde was trouble the moment she saw that jovial little face of hers. "No waay!" Georgiana exclaimed.

"I don't know who you're talking about?" Nicole continued.

"I don't even know who he is, but I ship it already," Tyler announced.

"Imma say no to shipping right now?" Nicole rejected.

"To Ethan!" Kate toasted, raising a glass in the air.

Nicole whipped around to supposed best friend with widened eyes. Wasn't she supposed to be on _her_ side here?! Georgiana, Tyler, Freddie, Emerson, and Liam all jerked their head to Ethan Banks at the table in shock. "Ethan?!" they all yelled.

Ethan sat there frozen in seat. Is this where it all comes out? At a restaurant surrounded by all of his friends? Ethan's entire body remained stagnant and tense. He was too scared to even look at anyone right now, especially Ella, who was probably about to pee herself right about now.

"Ethan! That's his name!" Jo blurted out. She knew she's heard it before! "No, it's not!?" Nicole tried to say, but nobody was really listening to her at this point. Thankfully, Kate was quick to alleviate the situation and put everyone's minds at ease. Well, everyone except for Nicole, that is.

"No, Harris! His name is Ethan Harris. Oo! Ya'll wanna see a picture?" Kate offered. She pulled out her phone and looked through her most recent pictures. Nicole leaned all the way across the table to Kate who was engrossed in her phone. "Why do you have a picture of him?!" she hissed. Kate didn't even look up. "I don't have a picture of him. I have a picture of the both of you," she casually informed. Nicole's eyebrows shot up. Great! That's even worse!

Nicole couldn't believe this. Her best friend was about to show a new guy to a guy she barely knew and a guy she hates plus his girlfriend who are only a few feet away. Perfect. What a wonderful day today has turned out to be!

Kate passed the phone to Tyler. He was the birthday boy after all. Freddie and Georgiana crowded around him. "How come I can only see the back of his head?" Freddie complained. He was really hoping to catch a glimpse of this guy's face. Hey, who knows? Maybe he knew the guy!

The picture was taken from behind of some ride. They could only see the backs of the two figures, but it was easy to identify one of them as Nicole. Nicole's head was buried into the man's side as the man's arm was wrapped around her. The seats covered most of their bodies and the man was facing straight on, making it impossible to identify any facial features.

"Cause I was sitting behind them on the ride," Kate informed. The ride seemed to be in some tropical location and the seats had some sort of waterproof bags attached to the back of them. "What ride? Cause she seems really scared. She's clutching him like they're headed off to their death," Georgiana asked.

Ethan Banks leaned over ever so slightly to catch a glimpse of the photo. Granted, he couldn't see much at the angle he was at, but the red-orange tint of the seats reminded him of something. Suddenly, it clicked. _The Jurassic Park ride!_ So that's what she was doing. While he was appeasing an endless line of fans, who just made Ella even angrier by the way, Nicole was off snuggling up to some guy.

Where'd she meet him anyways? She's only been here a day! Even though he shouldn't be the person speaking against short courtship periods, but this was still a surprise. She was by Kate the whole time on the bus, so she must've met this mystery man in the couple of hours after the bus and before the ride. Unless it was one of those other guys on the bus?

Ethan looked over to the girl he thought he knew. Would she come to Florida with a guy? She still looked relatively the same. No big changes. Her clothes were more plain than usual. It was a regular black dress. Even her make-up was more muted. He wondered if he had anything to do with that- Wait, wait a minute. Is she...is she BLUSHING? Exactly who is this guy anyways?!

Before his jaw hit the floor, Ethan felt a nudge on his left. He looked over to see Ella's eyes narrowed onto him. Ethan shook the blush out of his head. He took Ella's hand in his which quickly placated her. He was on thin ice already and was not about to risk falling through and getting hypothermia tonight.

Tyler pulled the phone closer to his face. "Oh my gosh, she is!" he redirected his attention to Nicole, who he was looking at in a whole new light now. "Damn girl." Nicole winced. "I'm just going to excuse myself to go to the bathroom. Nobody look for me, I'll be in a stall, I promise," she excused.

Nicole stood up to leave, but neither Kate or Emerson got up to let her out. Nicole looked down to her friend and was met with an innocent blank stare. She glared at the little faker. Kate was doing all of this on purpose and she was definitely going to get revenge later. Georgiana's hand guided Nicole back down. "Oh calm down, it's not that big of a deal," she eased. Nicole sat back down after realizing she had no other choice. "Yeah! The back of his head looks cute, so it'd make sense why you'd be holding onto him like that," Tyler replied.

Before Ethan could get a better look at this "cute back of the head", Tyler passed the phone back to Kate. She put the phone back in her bag, noticing Ethan Banks' flash of disappointment. Ugh. Even when he had no right to butt into Nicole's life, he was still trying to get unnecessarily involved. Whatta jerk. And speaking of jerks, why not sneak a glance at the king jerk of all jerks right across the table?

"He looks different," Kate observed. This shouldn't have come as much of a surprise, after all, they haven't seen each other in a couple years. He must be about 23 now. He looked...good. Apparently some things don't change.

His hair was still the same style, but years of being in the sun made the ends slightly lighter than the rest. It was styled into that coiffed updo that he loved to play with. Honestly, it seemed like he couldn't go one minute without touching his hair. As if it being out of place did anything to hamper his attractiveness.

His jawline was sharper; it must be because all that leftover baby fat was nearly gone now. Even his smile was different. It used to take up his entire face as the corners of them twitched with mischief. As she watched him react to Georgiana's comment, she saw that familiar twitch, but the smile didn't reach the corners of his face anymore. It was as if something was stopping it from growing too wide, too carefree. It was like he was holding himself back.

But out of all the little nuances, the one thing that struck Kate most were the blue-green eyes fixated on whatever drew Jordan's attention. "They used to be brighter," she remembered.

Back then, the colors would drastically change with whatever mood he was in or whatever clothes he wore. They adapted to seamlessly complement whatever environment that surrounded him. They were the perfect accessory and he knew exactly how to use them.

She didn't even get a look at them the last time she saw him; her eyes were watering up and the colors had blended together to form a pale, almost greyish version of what they used to be. She remembered because it reminded her of the grey clouds in the sky that day. In fact, that whole day was grey. Or maybe it was just because that's how she felt. As if the light inside her was blown out by a gust of wind and she was left with only a faint whisper of what it used to be.

Ugh. She hated how stupid she sounded whenever she thought about that day. It was better to just push it away and keep it locked up for as long as possible. After all, it's worked all this time, right?

And now, here she was, face to face with those eyes, alive with color, every bit as intimidating as they were before. Kate casually looked across the table to try and catch another glimpse of those eyes, but all she saw was the deep brown top of his head as Jordan picked at the food on his plate.

As he looked up to listen to one of Tyler's stories, a couple strands of his brown hair flopped over his forehead. Kate scoffed aloud. Figures. Even with noodles halfway into his mouth, Jordan Banks was still as picturesque as a model ripped from a Calvin Klein ad. Yeah, some things really don't change.

Kate was deeply in these conclusions as everyone else at the table talked more about Nicole's mystery man. It's was due to the severe thinking of these thoughts that Kate looked over Nicole's rising anxiety. And with rising anxiety came malicious ideas.

"Soooo Kate, what about you?" Nicole loudly inquired. Kate smiled nervously as she felt the spotlight shift onto her. She glared at Nicole from the corner of her eye. Nicole smiled smugly. If she was going down, you bet your sweet ass she was not going down alone.

Kate laughed nervously, "No, no, no. I've sworn off Youtubers for now. Still recovering from the last time I got badly burned by a Brit," Kate confessed putting both hands up in the air. She was secretly proud of that alliteration. Alliteration is amazing, nearly as great a rhyme; not quite as catchy or wonderful, but a flavorful garnish to good dialogue.

The table fell silent. Nicole stared at her best friend in shock. Of course she wanted revenge, but she did not expect her friend to set herself on fire. Everyone's eyes widened, fixated on the still delirious party member. Finally, one of them just had to ask. "Wait, you've dated British YouTuber?" asked Freddie.

"Do we know him? Cause we pretty much know all of the popular YouTubers from the UK," Liam replied.

"Yeah, did you date him secretly?" Georgiana asked.

"Oo a secret relationship? You've gotta tell us what happened," Tyler prodded.

The spotlight has made its appearance once again and this time, it's intensity felt like the illuminated figure was standing on the damn sun. The table waited with bated breath to hear this epic story of this doomed relationship; and nobody was going to take a 'no' for an answer. Kate scanned the table only to see eleven pairs of eyes staring right at her. Yup. She was screwed. Royally screwed.


	9. Chapter 8: Can't Fight This Feeling

"Now I'm sure you're all wondering why I called you all together," Harry started. All four boys were seated, staring back at Harry who was pacing in front of them in his hotel room. He looked deeply concerned over some matter, while the rest looked already annoyed at the fact that he called together a meeting after an exhausting, humid day at an amusement park. The last thing they wanted to do was hear was some kind of lecture from Harry about whatever the hell is going through his head at the moment.

"And that's because this is the inauguration of the newest member of our club," he stated proudly. Danny held up a finger to protest. "And what club is that?" But instead of replying, Harry put his index finger on the confused boy's lip to silence him so that he could continue. Nobody puts Baby into a corner.

" _What does Dirty Dancing have to do with this?!" John yelled out. Harry looked away, posed like some regal tortured artist. "I know you can be overwhelmed and underwhelmed, but can you ever be just whelmed?" Harry inquired aloud. A few chuckles scattered throughout the audience. "It's from 10 Things I Hate About You," a guy said to his friend staring at him awkwardly._

" _How do you even know that?" his friend asked aloud._

" _Jasmine and I watched it last night," he confessed._

 _His friend rolled his eyes and turned back to the stage. John laid his elbows on his knees. "Harry, are you just going to quote 80's/90's movies now?" John asked, annoyed. Harry walked to the opposite side of the stage. "I'm sorry you're jealous of me. I can't help that I'm popular," Harry retorted as he tried to flip his hair. John burrowed his face into his hands. He could not believe this was happening right now. "Harry, please stop. You're confusing the crowd," he replied through his hands._

" _For a minute there, I forgot why I avoided places like this and people like you," Harry spat out. "She's All That," the guy said to his confused friend._

 _John looked up from his hands. "What are you talking about, Harry? You're the one who invited me down here!" he reminded. Harry stood there with his arms crossed. "What do you know? You're just a virgin who can't drive," Harry scoffed._

" _Clueless," the guy informed his friend._

 _John jumped up from his seat. "Says the one who hasn't been in a relationship for, oh, I don't know, ever!" John shot back. Harry gasped, turned around, and crossed his arms. The audience drew in their breathe. John looked out into the crowd but only saw a mix of shock and disappointment. John looked back and forth between Harry and the crowd. "I was just...He started…"_

 _The crowd looked on disapprovingly. John sighed and hung his head. It was evident that nothing he could say was going to win them over. He walked up to Harry and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Listen, I'm sorry I said that. I lost my temper for a little bit" he apologized. Harry humphed. "You can't lose something you never had," Harry retorted._

" _How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days," the guy whispered to his friend._

" _Let me make it up to you. How about I take over for a bit and you can rest?" John proposed._

 _Harry slowly turned around to face the crowd. John leaned over to face Harry as if to say, "hmm?" Harry smiled and perked up quickly. "You know what John? I like you, just the way you are," he commented. Harry patted John twice on the back, strode over to the big, comfortable chair John used to be in, and sat down with a satisfying plop. John sighed in relief. The guy in the audience looked on perplexingly. "Bridget Jones Diary," his friend told him. The guy looked at his friend in complete surprise. "What? It was on TV last night," his friend shrugged._

" _Alright," John clapped his hands, turning back to the crowd, "Sorry about that. Harry gets a little loopy if he's up on stage too much. Now, where were we?"_

He extended his arms to one of his friends and said with a smile, "Ethan 'Somewhat Got It In' Harris!" He immediately followed his comment with applause, while the rest of the group, including Ethan, rolled their eyes. "Amazing. I'm going to bed now," John said as he started to get off from the bed. But Harry firmly placed his hand on his shoulder and started pressing him back down with a stern look on his face.

"This man… this gentleman here," Harry started, getting noticeably teary-eyed. "He's a true inspiration for all of us. He set his eyes on a cold-hearted, vicious, black inside-"

"We get it, Harry," John said to calm him down, which Harry appreciated before he continued. "And those walls got broken down. Partially. This man made his move. Sort of. And she accepted him for who he is. Sometimes. Anyways tonight, we drink to you." Harry lifted an imaginary glass to the silent room.

Julian got up and patted Harry on the back. "Thank you for the rousing speech, Harry," he commended. Harry beamed. "Now let's all leave," Ethan finished as he got up. All he wanted to do was go to bed and distract himself. Nicole was out at a dinner party, thus ruining his plans for tonight.

John's hand popped up and pulled his friend back down. "Whoa there, we're not about to just let you go back to the room to sulk, Ethan," John surmised. Ethan pouted. Figures. "Yeah, this meeting's to celebrate you! You've proven you've got the balls to do something," Harry exclaimed. Ethan groaned. "All I did was help her out on a ride!" he yelled.

"You comforted her in her time of need!" Harry corrected.

"He's got a point there, mate," Julian agreed.

"Yeah, you made real strides," John concluded.

Ethan felt John's hand pat his back. Well, if he was being honest, he was pretty proud of himself. Just 24 hours ago, Nicole didn't know him, or even cared to, really; and now he could actually go up to her and be acknowledged. Hell, she might even _like_ being around him now.

A lazy grin spread over Ethan's face. The boys stared on in silence as Ethan's eyes glazed over. They looked at each other worriedly. Someone better knock Ethan out of his daydream before they completely lose him. "Oi," Danny said as he gave Ethan a quick shove, "Don't get carried away."

"Yeah, it's not like you actually got her number," Julian scoffed.

"Weren't you guys literally patting me on the back a minute ago?!" yelled Ethan.

"A minute's a long time ago," Harry informed, "Now we have to focus on your next move."

"Next move?!" Ethan shouted.

Next move?! Didn't he just make these huge strides all day? I mean, he made her laugh for crying out loud! Did these guys think that was easy? Because it wasn't. Based on her previous reactions, Nicole didn't seem like the girl who would rush into things. She needed to feel comfortable with him first and for that to happen, he would need to spend some quality time with her. Which, by the way, he was losing every second because she just had to go do that stupid dinner party.

While Ethan was stewing over his limited time, his friends were busily imposing their own relationship ideas onto his emerging love life. "It's gotta be something big. We only have a couple days left!" Harry exclaimed.

"No," the guys unanimously rejected.

"Let's just start off small. Like a dinner date," Julian proposed.

Ethan slowly shook his head and said, "She'd never go on a dinner date. Even if I called it something else, she'd say no just because it sounds too much like a formal date." The guys sighed. They had to admit he was right. Well, everyone except for Harry of course. "Well how do know if you don't _ask_ her?" Harry quickly interrupted. Those guys were being too pessimistic. Even if Nicole was as picky as Ethan claimed, he should still _try_.

( _After all, no guts no glory. See, it's the alliteration that makes it true," Harry whispered to the crowd. John cleared his throat. "Sorry," Harry apologized. He scampered back to his seat and sat down properly. "I couldn't help myself," he shrugged and gave John an innocent smile. John shook his head and continued_.)

"I don't even have her number!" Ethan argued. For the first time, he was actually happy over that little fact. Sure, he wanted to ask Nicole out, but damn, his friends needed to slow down. He made a lot of progress today. She laughed at him! Well, ok, if it's put like that it sound bad, but rest assured it was a very good thing that happened. The guys groaned aloud. Their plans ruined.

Danny looked around the room at his disheartened comrades. This was a club meeting, right? And club members took care of each other, so he sorta had to. Danny raised his hand up slowly. "Actually, I can solve that," Danny offered. He pulled out his phone, looked through his contacts, and clicked on a single name. His screen shone brightly, spotlighting a name and a phone number. Every eye widened. "You have her number?!" shouted Julian.

"Yeah. I got it after I got Kate's," Danny answered.

Harry grabbed onto Danny's phone like it was a golden, ancient statue. This was it. He gently placed into Ethan's awaiting open palms. Goosebumps sent shivers to Ethan's arms as the phone made contact with his. This was her phone number. The key to her very soul. Ok, maybe not her soul, but a connection to her nonetheless. All he had to do was type something. _Shit._

His friends had already put the number into his phone. They placed his phone into his hands. Ethan looked at the blank message window in awe. What was he supposed to write? What would he say? "Just say hi and that it's you," John told him, feeling Ethan's growing anxiety. The moment Ethan starts overthinking, it would be game over. The best chance Ethan had would be if he just reacted out of pure adrenaline, or in this case, peer pressure.

"Just do it," whispered Harry, who had somehow managed to appear right by Ethan's left ear. But it wasn't like he was the only one crowded around his friend. "Yeah, just do it. What could go wrong?" Julian inquired from Ethan's right. Danny took a seat beside Julian. "I don't know what you're freaking out about. It's just a text," Danny thought aloud. He scrolled through his phone for a bit. "Easy for you to say. Kate was probably texted you first," Harry retorted. Danny slouched down a little. True.

Ethan took in a deep breath. All he needed to do was say hi. No big deal. He pulled the phone closer. The guys leaned closer to Ethan to get a better look. He typed up the phrase hastily, making sure that his fingers were moving faster than his own mind. He read over the short sentence once just to make sure there wasn't any typos. And before he could get any comments from his observers or his own mind, Ethan clicked send.

 **At the dinner...**

Nicole's phone dinged at table, but her eyes couldn't look away from the scene unfolding before her. Kate had not only marched to her own execution without having being asked, but she polished the guillotine herself. Whatever notification she just got, it would just have to wait. If she couldn't help her friend through this situation by involving, she was going to at least give moral support by being present. That and Kate's expression was priceless.

For someone with relatively small eyes, Kate's nearly grew to the size of grapefruits. She was screwed. What happened? Good question. Honestly, she didn't know either. "Why don't you direct that question to the boy directly across the table from me? CoughcoughJordanBanks coughcough" Kate wanted to say. But she couldn't exactly say that without getting in trouble with Jordan, who, by the way, was looking more nervous by the second.

Not only was Kate pretty well screwed at this point, but so was he. If Kate let that little bit of history slip, he'd never hear the end of it. Even if he explained all the details, his reputation would be severely tarnished. He had to make sure this never got out, at least, not here where he couldn't escape. "I, uhh," Kate stammered as she looked around nervously. Nobody dared to say a word. And Nicole's blank stare was of no help. She was in this alone.

"Do you have something against endless vlogging and snapchats?" Jordan laughed. Everyone else followed suit. Kate visibly relaxed as the groups' subsequent laughter took some pressure off her. "And vines and tweets and instagram pictures," Freddie added.

"But at least we're entertaining!" Emerson defended.

"And narcissistic," Kate chimed in, sneaking a look at Jordan who smiled in response.

"Wouldn't you be if you had a face as cute as this?" Georgiana interjected, squeezing Tyler's cheeks. Tyler batted his eyelashes. "True, I am flawless #Behive4lyfe."

"Oh my gosh, you're even hashtagging offline," Georgiana exclaimed.

"Yeah, I understand why'd you wanna break up with one of us," Liam replied.

"We are bit hard to deal with," Freddie confessed.

"Tell me about it!" Jo interjected, holding her glass up, "Sometimes you guys just don't pay attention!"

The group looked at Jo in silence for a second before breaking out into full out laughter. Even Kate laughed at this point. She laid back into seat as the group veered off into video ideas and other YouTubers. She nearly dug her own grave there. there was no way she was going to let Jordan's and her past out, especially at a big convention like this. It'd be anarchy; she'd never hear the end of it. "So any chance of that preference changing anytime soon?" Emerson quietly asked. Kate hummed as she put her index finger on her chin. Jordan looked on from across the table. "Weeeellll-" she drew out as the boy waited with bated breath, "No." Kate smiled widely. Emerson slumped over. Damn it.

Jordan leaned back at his seat, a small smile toying on his lips. The rest of them had already moved on. They probably forgot all about Kate's little slip by now; which really was a benefit to the both of them. He really had to be on his toes for that one. But then again, with his current record, he should be used to helping Kate out of sticky situations by now.

Jordan snuck a glance at the dark haired girl across the table from him. It was odd. Even after all these years, she looked the same. Granted, she had a better sense of style now and seemed to know what to do with her hair; but all in all, Kate still looked the same. There was something comforting about that. With everything that's happened over these couple of years: the separation, the new YouTube fame, moving schools, etc. Kate remained virtually unchanged.

He'd heard that girls usually lose weight after going through a break-up, but Kate seemed as supple as ever. None of her assets had dwindled. Jordan's mouth twitched at the thought of Kate's reaction to his comments. She probably would have slap him right across the face right then and there. The Kate he remembered wouldn't have hesitated one second to put him back in his place, especially if he was making those kind of comments in public. Even with her obsession with propriety, Jordan knew that Kate would rather physically knock him out in public than let anyone know about their sexual attraction. Maybe her virginity had something to do with it.

"Who said she still had it?" a voice in Jordan's head scoffed. Jordan could feel his insides inflame at the thought. He observed Kate as she laughed with one of the guys at the table. Who would she have dated? He didn't read anything about that on her Facebook, twitter, tumblr, or YouTube. Not that he regularly checked it. He just did a little digging when he was in bed after that welcome party. After seeing her again, he wanted to see what she'd been up to. The last time he saw her, she…

Jordan thought back to that infamous day. The day that he had replayed over and over again in his head. He could barely remember her face. She had refused to face him. All he could see was her in that leather jacket with her hair covering the side of her face as she gazed into the brick wall. And when she finally turned to look at him for a split second, all he could remember was how pale she looked. It could've just been the glow from the overcast, but it seemed like she lost her spirit. It was only a minute later that her body followed suit, and like that, she was gone.

Kate was laughing to one of Tyler's anecdotes now. The laughter resonated through Jordan's ears. Judging by the merriment around the table, Tyler's story must've been quite the shocker. Kate's eyes crinkled with joy as a wide, unabashed grin broke through. An unmelodic, abrupt laugh fell out followed by a little hiss as Kate tried to control her volume. Kate hastily covered her mouth, but her face scrunched up as she held inside the laugh. Jordan couldn't help but smile himself. Apparently some things really do stay the same.

With the problem finally past them, Nicole was able to sneak a glance at her phone. She had gotten a text message from a number she didn't know. The notification previewed the first line of the text. "Hey, how's the dinner thing going?..." Nicole's eyebrows furrowed. She didn't remember giving her number out recently. But then again, things lately have been a bit of a blur so she could've accidentally spilled it out over the last two days. Nicole, still suspicious, unlocked her phone to see the rest of the message. The line below that sentence simply read, "-Ethan Harris". Now she was officially creeped out.

Everyone else seemed to be busy figuring out how they were going to split the bill, while Tyler kept protesting over his guest's attempts to pay for everyone. Nicole sat there pondering in silence (especially since she probably didn't even have enough to cover her portion of the bill). They share a tiny, little moment together at a time of weakness, and Ethan thinks he can just start a random conversation with her over text? Who does he think he is? Without thinking twice, she replied with the first thing that popped into her head..

 **Meanwhile…**

Ethan was feeling confident with himself. The message was simple but enough to get a conversation going. If she was still in the good mood that he thought she was, things would get going quickly and he'd be able to progress with her further. Ethan's phone illuminated with a reply. The five boys jumped up from their resting positions to see what the response was. They were all pushing and shoving on top of each other to see what she said. Once they all settled down, they read the message mentally while Ethan said it out loud.

"'How tf did you get my number?'" he said solemnly. You could sense the awkwardness within the room, that was only interrupted by Harry's giggling. John, Julian, and Danny turned to look at the idiot and give him a look that screamed 'Not now, mate'. Harry still giggled for a few more moments before saying, "She's kinda funny, huh?"

Ethan sighed as a response. Great. He was back to square one again. This girl's walls were going to be harder to bring down than he thought. John put a reassuring hand on Ethan's shoulder. "It's just texting, man. That's a normal response for someone that you aren't fairly acquainted with." Ethan nodded in agreement, feeling his spirit starting to lift again. John had a point. He probably would say the same thing if he got a random text from someone he didn't give his number out too.

"Just tell her you got it from me. Easy fix," Danny said. Ethan thought about it for a little bit. That probably could work for him. She probably wouldn't question anymore after that response. Maybe he was still in the game…

 **Later…**

The sound of a door unlocking has never sounded so sweet. The girls strode through the door and instantly kicked off their heels. "That was fun," Kate nodded. The others had decided to go out for a couple drinks before going back to their rooms. And while Nicole did like her alcohol, she was not about to go out there and get drunk in front of those people. "Yeah, up until the part you decided to show everyone Ethan Harris!" Nicole yelled. Kate winced, but smiled nervously. Whoops. Apparently she still remembered that little, trivial part of the night. Nicole shot Kate a glare as she took off her dress.

"You're the one who said you wanted to bond with them. Did that not bond us? I think it bonded us. We all swapped snapchats at the end of it all!" Kate exclaimed. Kate pulled open a drawer to take out her folded pjs. She didn't care what Nicole thought, it was a good night. A lot of progress was made. She went from freezing up in front of Jordan, to talking and laughing and eating in front of him. For a second there, Kate forgot he was across the table.

"Aw, did you get to swap snapchats with your best friends, Jordan and Jo?" Nicole asked in a baby voice. She fell onto her bed, grabbing her phone in the process. Kate whipped around and glared at her with all the strength she could muster. Nicole grinned. "I hope you get nightmares tonight," Kate spat back. Nicole shrugged. As if she weren't used to those already.

As Kate was about to head into the bathroom, she glanced over at Nicole who was busily texting on her phone. "You've been looking at that all night. Who are you texting? Your mom or your sister?" she asked.

"Ha. Ha. You're so funny," Nicole responded flatly, "I'm texting Ethan."

Nicole had said the magic words. Kate whipped around, eyes wide with mischief and joy. "Did you just say _Ethan_?" Kate asked, holding out the final word. Nicole kept her eyes on her phone, already knowing exactly what kind of smug grin was plastered on Kate's face. "Danny gave him my number," Nicole informed.

"Oh, I see," Kate sang. Her grew grew wider. Apparently she wasn't the only one shipping this couple. She could definitely use a partner in this thing. Nicole exhaled slowly, already regretting telling her friend anything at all. Why didn't she just say she was on tumblr or something? Or mention Jordan again? That would've shut Kate up real quick. "Aren't you going to take a shower?" Nicole reminded.

Kate smiled. Nicole was practically begging her to leave. Which meant that Kate won this round. And since she sort of did throw her under the bus earlier that night, she might as well quit while she's ahead. Kate twirled around and headed towards the bathroom. "You have _fun_!" she sang before closing the door behind her.

 **Meanwhile…**

"Guys! Guys! She's texting back!" Julian announced, hitting the bed eagerly. The guys collided onto the bed, scrambling to get a good view of the screen. They had taken shifts waiting for Nicole's replies since she took a while sometimes. But then again, who could blame her? She was out on the town, doing something, while they were, well, stuck in a hotel room.

"What'd she say? What'd she say?!" yelled John.

(" _I did not yell!" John yelled. The audience turned to look at the origin of the sudden outburst. John slowly sat back down in his seat and cleared his throat. "I just spoke louder than usual," he rephrased. Amused looks spread around the audience. "Sure, John," Harry nodded. John could feel the doubt coming from the audience. "Well, you try not getting excited over this. Ethan's been waiting for this for a long time!" John defended. The entire audience laughed, whether it was at him or with him, John couldn't tell. Harry wiped a tear from his watering eyes. He had not seen John that riled-up since that one night at Vidcon. "Alright, alright!" Harry proclaimed, redirecting the attention to him, "So anyways, the text read…")_

Ethan cleared his voice before beginning to read the text. "Just got back to the hotel room, exhausted af from being fake all evening. Probably just gonna hit the mini bar and call it a night." Before Ethan could even wrap his head around the text, Harry suddenly jumped up and shouted, "NO!"

It stopped everyone in their tracks. Any kind of movement felt like it would further upset this confused man. "Ethan don't you get it? This is your chance! She's weighed down with a food baby, hanging out in her hotel room about to get a lil tipsy. There's no way for her to be any more relaxed. Ask her to go do something!"

Ethan sighed in frustration again. "Like what? We've already been over this! She'll say no to anything I say."

"Well actually," John chimed in. "things are a little different now. It was "Relaxed Nicole" that gave you the opportunity to make her smile and laugh. Maybe this is another chance with her."

He did have a point. It was also "Relaxed Nicole" that let him get drunk with her and party like they were in their own, little world. "Regular Nicole" had her guard up and was always on edge, but "Relaxed Nicole" was a different person entirely. There was definite potential with "Relaxed Nicole". Things were suddenly starting to look up again.

After pondering what John had said, Ethan nodded in agreement. "Ok, well then give me some ideas," he said rubbing his hands. He was back in the game and ready to do this.

"She's probably not gonna want to put on anything else besides her pjs right now, so maybe you two could go hang out by the rooftop pool," Danny suggested, "And who knows? Maybe if she's _extra_ comfortable, some skinny dipping could happen." He playfully nudged his friend, who nearly blushed at the idea. Nicole? Skinny-dipping? He'd probably have a heart attack.

If Ethan was being completely honest, he just wanted to keep talking to her. Nothing overly heated, nothing too risky, nothing one of them would possibly regret the next morning. Just some good, old-fashioned conversations about where she's from, what kind of stereotype she was in high school, why she has her walls up so high. You know, meaningful conversations.

Julian was next. "We could clear out the room and you two have another drunk dance party again." Ethan thought back to that night and how much fun it was. Memories he'll remember for a really long time, but they needed something new. He needed to make progress and repeating the same old things wouldn't get him anywhere.

His friends were throwing out some good ideas, but Ethan couldn't help but get nervous at thought of hanging out with Nicole again. She hadn't even said yes yet, but he could feel himself growing more giddy with every passing second. Hell, he didn't even ask her yet. There were so many things that could happen tonight, so many different outcomes that could take place. Endless possibilities...

"In the worst case scenario: you come up blank or end up making complete fool of yourself (which is very likely), just kiss her." Harry said as a matter of factly. The room fell silent. The guys looked at him like he had officially lost it. Granted, it wasn't the first time they thought he needed to be locked into the looney bin, but the first time in a while. John finally broke the silence. "What kind of terribly, ill-thought out, reckless-"

 _("Alright alright, "Harry chimed in. "That's enough, they get the point." He turned to a listener next to him and said, "Even though my plan was the best idea they came up with."_

" _Harry!" John exclaimed._

" _Well, it's true mate! In fact, let me tell the rest so that they better understand the_ feelings _and_ emotions _of the next few scenes." John rolled his eyes at the exaggeration in Harry's voice, but stepped aside to let him continue.)_

Like every genius, the brilliance of Harry's idea was lost upon the average mind. John shoved Harry aside, got in front of Ethan, and placed his arms on his friend's shoulders. "Listen, Ethan. Now's your moment. Just go over there and ask her out. You don't have to get a yes tonight, just talking with her is progress enough. You can do it." John gave Ethan a strong pat on one shoulder, and stood up.

Swelled with the confidence and motivation, Ethan quickly rose. His eyes fixated on the door. He took in a deep breath and nodded. Alright. This was it. "Let's do this," he thought to himself as he strode forwards.

His friends followed quickly behind him, mentally cheering him on. They stopped right in the hallway in front of the hotel room and watched Ethan stride towards the elevators. No one's eyes wavered even when Ethan disappeared from sight. "I'm so nervous," Julian confessed, nibbling on his nails.

"Maybe we should follow him just in case," Danny said, taking a step forward.

"Good idea," John agreed.

Harry rushed to the front and spread his arms so that he took up most of the hallway. "No, he's got to do this himself. If we go, it'll undermine all the confidence we gave him!" Harry declared. They looked down at the carpet and shuffled their feet. Harry had a point. Ethan needed to know that he could do this by himself. Babying him would just ruin it.

"But what if an emergency happens?" Julian asked. Harry looked away to ponder this idea. An emergency was definitely a possibility. They were in Florida, after all. There could be a hurricane or one of those oil spills. But the hotel would have preventative measures for that. So what other kind of emergency? But then again, this was Ethan they were talking about. He became a walking disaster when it came to Nicole. She just had this certain effect on him. What if he froze up when he saw her? Or worse? What if he fainted? There was no way Nicole could carry his body down to the hospital. Maybe they should go there just in case.

"Good point, Julian. Let's go," Harry hastily agreed. It took him less than a second to turn around. And it took all of them less than a minute to bolt down the hallway. They'd catch up with Ethan in a matter of minutes. They were his best friends, after all. They just _had_ to be there.

 **In the hotel room…**

Nicole was laying in bed, scrolling through her Vine feed. As much as she didn't want to say it, the dinner actually went pretty well. Aside from that Ethan debacle, she had a pretty good time talking with Georgiana and Tyler and all of them. And she wasn't even that annoyed by Ella! Still, Nicole was glad to be back in the hotel room. She didn't have to be on edge or always trying to laugh at someone's joke. She could just be herself here. No pressure.

"Knock knock knock"

Nicole looked at the hotel room door. Who could be here now? Neither of them had ordered room service and the maid came earlier that day. Kate popped her head out the bathroom door. "Is someone at the door?" she asked. Nicole shrugged. "I don't know. Lemme check." Kate closed the bathroom door to quickly change into her pjs. Nicole could handle whoever was at the door, right?

Ethan knocked the door again. This was his moment. He could do this. Ethan's legs shook as he waited. This was nothing new. All he had to say was "Hi, do you want to go on a date sometime?" That's it. Less than 10 words. It was only Nicole after all. He already got drunk with her and held her. What else could happen?

Nicole opened the door to see a familiar face in the doorframe. "Oh, hey Ethan, what are you doing here?" Ethan just stared at her. Nicole's forehead wrinkled as she waited for him to speak, but was met with nothing. Why was he staring at her like that? Maybe he got the wrong hotel room? Nicole looked at his face. He was slightly red and little beads of sweat were formed at his hairline. Ethan's hand tapped vigorously against his leg. Why did he seem so nervous?

Ethan just couldn't handle it. He'd seen her drunk, scared, and laughing, but he was not expected for this. Nicole stood at the doorway, hair in curls, face all made-up. All she wore were a pair of cotton shorts that were barely seen under an oversized Batman T-shirt. She was breathtaking. His brain went blank. Every single piece of advice his friends had given him were tossed out the window. Well, every one except for one.

"Shit he's freezing up!" Julian hissed. The guys were crouched behind the wall at the end of the hall. They had gotten there before Nicole even opened the door. "He'll be fine," John replied. Ethan could do this! John had every bit of faith that his friend was going to come out of this alive. But just in case, John was also mentally calculating how fast he needed to be to catch Ethan just in case he fainted. "He needs help! We've gotta do something!" Julian pleaded.

"No, he's got to do this on his own," Harry replied.

"But he's just standing there!" Julian argued.

Harry looked on anxiously. _Come on, Ethan. You've got this._ And that's when the unexpected happened. Before either of them could make a move, Ethan made his. "Oh shit!" Danny gasped as they all watched with gaping mouths. Ethan grabbed Nicole's arms, pulled her into him, and locked his lips onto hers.


	10. Chapter 9: Some Bow Chicka Wow (sorta)

Everyone in the hallway fell silent. You could've heard a pin drop, a mouse's heartbeat, and the Disney World fireworks 20 miles away. Everyone witnessing this bold move had their jaws dragging on the floor. But nobody was in more disbelief than the couple that was in the middle of the act.

Ethan was still shocked that his spur-of-the-moment plan had worked. He'd thought about what it would be like to kiss her all day and here he is - _kissing_ her. And here she is - _kissing_ him back! When he felt Nicole's lips start to get less tense, he instinctively began to relax.

The closest thing he could compare this feeling to were drugs. His thoughts and worries started to slip away. The room felt like it was spinning. He could start to see some colors even with his eyes closed, and … music? Some psychedelic song playing in the background, with lyrics barely understood and a bass that you can feel in your heart.

 _("Actually….," Harry paused as he reached into his pocket. He took out his phone and typed a phrase into the YouTube search box. The audience looked at each other in confusion. He had just dropped a bombshell of a plot changer and was now checking his phone? What kind of storyteller is this!? "I found it!" Harry exclaimed, clicking on the appropriate video._

" _I'll make love to you! Like you want me to!" Harry grinned. Boys II Men was the only appropriate choice. Their songs were the epitome of seduction. He looked out into the crowd. John frowned. Alright, so apparently that wasn't the right song._

 _Harry stopped the video and typed in another title. Maybe this one would be better. Retro chords reverberated the room only to be melded into a three-beat drum intro. "It feels like I only go backwards, baby. Every part of me says 'go ahead'. I got my hopes up again," the high-pitched singer sang. John looked on approvingly. "There we go," Harry smiled.)_

Ethan slowly put his hand on her waist to pull her even closer in, while he felt her fingertips brush the side of his face. Their lips melted into each other, reflecting how well-fit their bodies were with the other. Nicole's hand made its way to the back of Ethan's neck, when

 _("Eeerk," Harry interrupted, sounding like a record scratch as he paused the video mid-chorus.)_

A door clicked, knocking Nicole out of her intentions. As her lips fell away from his, Ethan was forcibly brought back down to reality. He opened his eyes when Nicole gently shoved him away from her. Nicole's eyes were locked onto something over his shoulder. He turned around.

There, in front of them, were the Banks, their girlfriends, and their crew. A high-pitched whistle came out of Jo's mouth. "You go, Ethan!" she cheered. Nicole's attention fell to Ethan Banks whose eyes were wide with shock. She stared at him blankly as she tried to wrap her mind around why he was here.

The Banks' hotel room door swung open. Ella tugged on his shirt, unable to rip her eyes away from the kissing couple either. Ethan Banks _("Who I will now refer to as E.B. or what only his closest friends refer to him as, Banksy McBanks, because this is getting tiring." Harry stated.)_ looked behind him to the open room. McBanks looked like he was going to say something but was at a lost for words, repeatedly opening and closing his mouth before hastily rushing inside, being dragged by Ella. The others followed close behind. And when the door closed shut behind them, Nicole and Ethan were left alone in the hallway to comprehend what had just happened.

The awkward silence that filled the air made it almost unbearable for the poor guy. Ethan just couldn't help but notice how far apart the two were now. One minute their bodies were so close together, they could feel each other's hearts beating out of their chests; the next minute, it's as if nothing had happened. But Nicole _had_ to be feeling the same thing he was, right?

"So," Ethan began. He wasn't sure where the conversation was going to go, but he needed to say something to break that silence.

But as soon as he spoke, Nicole snapped out of her thoughts and looked at this complete lunatic in front of her. This lunatic just kissed her. And now he wanted to just hang out and talk? No. She needed to think this over. She needed to get away. So Nicole started walking back towards her hotel door.

Ethan knew he had to say something to stop her. This couldn't be going downhill so quickly, not after this monumental moment. But he stopped himself, knowing that any protests to her leaving would be futile. She was too strong-willed. So without breaking eye contact, she stepped into her hotel room and slowly closed the door as Ethan watched this all unfold. The door clicked shut, leaving him alone in the hallway.

Nicole pressed one hand to the door to steady herself. Ethan kissed her. Her first kiss in over a year. Her first _meaningful_ kiss in God knows how long. She slid down the door when she thought about what all of this meant. Emotions and feelings and drama and- oh dear lord, she wasn't ready for any of this.

Nicole took a deep breath and got up, intending to go drink until her liver cries. But when she opened her eyes, she was met with two brown orbs staring straight at her. "AH!" Nicole fell back onto the door. Kate was bending with hands on her knees and glee written all over her face. "Sooo…" she sang. Nicole's heart rate began to fall back to normal. "What the everliving fu-"

"Sooooo...?!" Kate repeated.

"Ugh," Nicole scoffed.

She pushed past her friend and headed towards the bathroom. She really shouldn't have been surprised. Of course Kate saw that. Kate wouldn't be Kate if she didn't.

Kate hurriedly followed behind her. "Aw come on!" she pleaded. But Nicole just wasn't having it. She marched into the bathroom, slamming the door right in Kate's pouting face. "Nicole!" Kate yelled through the wood. Nothing. Kate huffed and crossed her arms. "You can't hide in there forever!" she shouted. "I don't wanna talk about it!" Nicole shouted, before drowning everything out with the running faucet.

After waiting by the door for a couple more seconds and realizing that Nicole wasn't going to come out anytime soon, Kate went over to her bed. Obviously nothing was going to happen tonight, so she might as well sleep.

Nicole pulled out some wipes and began diligently taking off her make-up. First the eyeshadow. Then the foundation. Then the lipstick. When she finished wiping away the red from her lips, Nicole stopped. Her hand hovered over mouth, grazing over it ever so gently. Ethan kissed her. And she kissed him back.

"Why in God's name did I kiss him back!?" Nicole thought in bed. Kate was already in her deep sleep, which included the snoring, drooling, and occasional violent tossing. At least someone was getting a good night's rest. Meanwhile, Nicole laid still in bed while her mind was on overdrive- more so than it's been in a very long time.

She knew Ethan liked her but she figured his awkward nature wouldn't let it progress into anything more than that 'crush' stage. Sure, she slipped up and showed some kind of emotion or weakness to him. And that was a huge mistake in her part, but all of this shouldn't be happening. At least, not so quickly.

Oh, who was she to say this stuff shouldn't be happening so quickly? She met a guy on a train, fell in love with him, and lost her virginity all on the same day. Nicole giggled out loud at the memories. How much fun you can have in the early stages of a relationship, the butterflies of the first kiss, the carelessness of your lips as they spill all of your darkest secrets to someone that could run away with them. But you trust them enough to know that they won't do that, they wouldn't do that to you. They care about you too much. He cares about you.

Was she ready for someone to care again?

 **Meanwhile...**

Ethan laid in his bed, tossing and turning. He was in deep conflict with himself, questioning his actions and praising them all at the same time. One thought kept circling around his head. "I made a move, but why did I _make_ that move?" He didn't actually plan on following Harry's advice, but ever since his friend planted that seed in his mind, it's been growing bigger and stronger. It was like Inception, but instead of getting hacked by Leonardo DiCaprio, he was hacked by and Impulse. That one seed clouded his judgment and all logical thinking. Everything he could think of was just about 'kissing her'. Kissing Nicole. _Nicole._

After seeing her in her pjs, he felt weak in the knees. The oversized t-shirt engulfing her frame underneath. Those shorts that he knows would only be noticed if she bent over. Her hair and makeup so perfect, just begging for someone to mess them up. Everything about her- so sexy, it hurt.

Ethan buried his face into his pillow. He felt like trash for thinking these thoughts. Especially after she pushed him away and left him hanging in the hallway. But this was all that he could think of, because nothing else mattered. He was craving her again; her touch, her lips, her resting bitch face, her entire being.

He wanted to care for her.

He also needed a cold shower.


	11. Chapter 10: What Do You Mean?

The convention center the next day was packed. YouTubers and fans crowded the floor as they tried to get to as many meet and greets, panels, and events as they could. Thankfully, these twoawkwardgirls were not anyone's priority thus leaving them free to roam around as they pleased. "So that's it? He just kissed you and you walked away?" Kate asked. Nicole nodded. What else did her friend expect? Fireworks? Explosions? Butterflies? Ok, maybe she did feel all of those things, but it could've also been just gas. She didn't eat much at Bennihanas, but there were spices in that marinade so you never know.

"So what now?" Kate asked. Nicole shrugged. "I don't know," she confessed. Normally, Kate would get a little bit frustrated over this, but Nicole was telling the truth. Nicole had no idea where this was going. She was still trying to sort this all out in her head. Thankfully, the girls have been friends long enough for Kate to know when to stop prodding. As the best friend, Kate took it upon herself to help alleviate some of that pressure; and since they were a Playlist, distracting Nicole shouldn't be too hard.

So Kate dragged her friend to various booths to grab some merch, take part in some activities, and even see some of their favorite YouTubers. They even ran into a couple fans, which was nice. By the end of this little whirlwind run through, Nicole had a smile on her face and nothing about Ethan on her mind. With one job done, Kate looked around for the next friend to help. She'd promised Danny to meet him after his meet and greet, so off they went.

As they got closer to Danny's little area, the girls could hear the sound of singing. There was a crowd surrounding Danny that consisted of both fans and some YouTuber friends. As the girls got closer to the crowd, the tune began to get awkwardly clear. It sounded an awful like Happy birthday. _But why would they sing that unless…_ Nicole and Kate exchanged surprised looks. _Oh shit._

"Happy Birthday tooooo youuuuu," the crowd finished. Confetti was flung into the air as everyone cheered. Danny smiled and thanked the crowd. Kate made sure to stay far away enough to remain unseen. She'd forgotten Danny's birthday. Danny's birthday was today. Oh shit. Nicole looked to her friend whose little eyes reminded her of a giant squid.

Kate looked around for a hiding place. She needed to sneak off to think. As Kate was turning, she caught a glimpse of the boys nearby. Perfect. If she could count on anyone for an idea, it'd be Harry.

But before Kate could take a step forward, she was reminded of Nicole's presence. She couldn't just leave her alone! Especially when she was stressed out about Ethan! Kate frantically scanned her surroundings for a distraction; and fortunately, she found one in the form of a particular exuberant, charismatic blonde boy.

"Tyler!" Kate called out. Now, seeing Tyler alone at Playlist is like seeing the sun not shining so to say that this was a miracle would be an understatement. "Oh heeyy!" Tyler greeted.

"How are you?" Kate asked.

"Doing good. Just waiting for Georgiana to finish taking a snap with a fan. Speaking of snapchats…," Tyler shot Nicole a smug look.

Nicole was taken aback. "Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked. Tyler glanced over to Kate for a quick second before returning to Nicole. His mouth was curved into a pouted smile with one raised eyebrow. "I heard you had quite the night last night," Tyler alluded. Nicole took a moment to think about what happened last night. Ethan and her did kiss last night, but there was no way Tyler would know about that. Unless…

Nicole turned over to her supposed best friend, who was avoiding as much eye contact as possible. "Oh, hey," Kate looked down at her phone, "I've gotta go meet someone. Tyler, it was really great seeing you again. Text you later, Nicole. Byeeee!" Kate gave Tyler a quick wave before getting out of that situation as fast as she possibly could.

Nicole was about to call Kate out, but she missed her opportunity. But Nicole wasn't upset for very long, after all, they were staying in the same room. She'd have her revenge later; the planning would keep her calm for the rest of the day.

Georgiana caught up with Tyler and Nicole, and joined in on the teasing. "Are you talking about the snapchat from last night?" Georgiana chimed in. Nicole rolled her eyes and groaned aloud. "Who else has seen this stupid snapchat?"

Tyler and Georgiana exchanged awkward glances. Nicole had a bad feeling in her stomach, and she hadn't even heard their answer yet. "Well we kinda… showed the rest of the people at the after party," Tyler admitted.

"You WHAT?!" Nicole exclaimed. Georgiana and Tyler should've been a little taken aback by Nicole's ear-piercing shout, but they were holding in their laughter instead. Maybe it was how light-hearted they thought the situation to be or maybe it was because they were still a little drunk from the night before. Either way, this raised Nicole's stress levels to an all-time high.

The after party mostly consisted of everyone that from the dinner party, plus about 10 more other people. In other words, a large chunk of the most influential, respected, and popular YouTubers _in the world_ saw Nicole kissing Ethan. Or rather, Ethan kissing Nicole. Now at this point in time, fainting would be an acceptable response. But Nicole's mind was so blank that all she could do was stop and stare back at these two well-meaning people.

Tyler tried reassuring her. "Don't worry, don't worry. They all thought it was super cute, nobody said you looked bad. In fact, Georgiana said your makeup still looked great, so it's all good!"

"Yeah, and it's just a snapchat," Georgiana said. "You have no idea how many popular YouTubers have been caught making out with someone; all caught on Snapchat. They mean nothing after a day or two." Nicole felt relieved at this. She'd be out of the spotlight by the end of this convention, and then she could go back to being a meek and small YouTuber in the vast community. Then Georgiana added, "Although, I must say, that kiss between the two of you- that wasn't just any kind of a kiss." Tyler nodded in agreement with a smug smile.

Nicole couldn't help but subconsciously agree. Of course they were right- it wasn't just any kiss. It was a special kiss, both for Nicole and Ethan. A kiss this special meant it was the beginnings of something new, something that'd change the two of them. But that's not what she wanted it to be. No matter how many feelings were stirring inside of her last night, Nicole just wanted it to be a kiss. She didn't want all of these feelings and possibilities attached. Just one of those kisses that two close companions shared just for the hell of it, and didn't think about it afterwards. Or at least she thought that's what she wanted.

She rolled her eyes as a response again. She had a feeling there was going to be a lot of eye rolling happening today. "You guys are overreacting."

"Mmhmm, sure. Alright, well you have to fill us in with the rest of the details. What happened right after the kiss?" Tyler said excitedly.

Well, let's see- her ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend caught the two of them smooching in the middle of the hallway, leaving everyone basically speechless. And then she ran, like she always does, back into her room. Pretty eventful.

After thinking about it for a little while, she figured the best answer would be to reply with, "Nothing." Disappointment slowly crept onto the two's faces.

"Nothing?" Tyler asked, to which Nicole shrugged. "So you guys didn't keep kissing? You didn't talk? He didn't… I don't know, ask you out or something?" Nicole shrugged no again. Granted, she didn't give him the opportunity to let anything else happen, but that was unnecessary information.

Tyler groaned exaggeratedly. "I don't know what's up with you, but when someone kisses you the way he kissed you last night, you don't just go and brush it off. You better pursue that shit, boo boo, because that doesn't happen every day!" Nicole rolled her eyes once more before smiling politely.

Georgiana then said, "Well, we should get going now. We have some panels that we need to get ready for. But the next time either of us see you, we want to hear some kind of progress, yeah?" But before Nicole could answer, Tyler cut in, "In fact, if we see the poor guy, we'll send him your way. That way you don't have to worry about finding him. K byeeee!"

The two YouTubers skipped off before getting mobbed by some fans and end up being late to their own panel.

 **Meanwhile…**

Harry, John, and Julian watched the Danny's celebration from afar. "Did we get him a present?" Julian asked. He looked between the other two anxiously. "Ethan and I did, we'll put your name on the card," John informed. Julian sighed in relief. Granted, he could've probably made something with some art supplies, but the best projects required time and planning and he didn't want to rush it. However, Julian still felt a little bad over not contributing to the present. "Oh hey, have you wrapped it yet?" Julian asked.

John shook his head. "I'll wrap it! What is it?" Julian asked.

"Just some lighting equipment."

"He is into those colored lights," Julian replied.

"Ha, you're one to talk," Harry interjected.

Julian smiled guiltily. The boys returned their attention to Danny and his now long line of adoring fans. Put a cute boy in front of a camera and girls are sure to follow; especially if said boy actually had a brain and passion for films. Harry looked on thoughtfully. Lighting equipment was a good present, but it wasn't _great_. He could definitely do better.

And like how lightning hit Ben Franklin, it suddenly dawned on him. "A flash mob! That's it!" Harry exclaimed, "Everyone likes flash mobs!" Harry whipped out his phone and began searching up flash mobs. Both John's and Julian's eyes widened at the remark. "Hold on, what?!" John exclaimed.

"Danny wouldn't like a flash mob," Julian tried to explain.

" _Everyone_ likes flash mobs," Harry corrected.

"No, I don't think that statement's entirely accurate," John replied.

As John and Julian were frantically trying to change Harry's mind, Kate made her way to the group. "Hey guys!" Kate cheerfully greeted, "So what'd you guys get Danny for his birthday?" she nodded over to other side. She placed her hands on her hips and attempted to act nonchalant. "Just some lighting equipment," John answered.

"Oh, ok, cool cool," Kate nodded eagerly.

Kate's anxious jittery movements were making the guys feel weird. She was even breathing weird; it was as if her brain was running all sorts of equations that she was panting from exhaustion."You alright there, Kate?" Harry asked.

"Me? Yeah! Totally! Just, you know, really excited to be here," Kate replied. She shot them an unnerving grin. Julian winced. This is probably how people felt when they saw slenderman.

"Did you forget it was Danny's birthday?" Harry surmised. Kate scoffed loudly. "Psh, whaaat? No! I mean, how could I forget his birthday? We're such close friends! I mean, that'd be, psh," Kate rambled. Her eyes wandered around the room aimlessly. The guys shared knowing looks. "Relax, you could just put your name on the-" Julian began.

But before Julian could finish, Harry quickly jumped in. "Actually!" Harry interrupted, "I have an idea on how you could make it up to him." Kate nearly jumped on the poor boy. "How?" she hastily asked. Harry grinned at his comrades who just stared on in confusion. He leaned closer to Kate. "There's this restaurant nearby. I heard it's pretty good and it's not too expensive either. Sooo why not take him out to lunch?" Harry proposed.

"That's such a good idea! Ok! Do you guys want to come?" Kate asked.

Julian opened his mouth to give a resounding yes (he was always down to try new things), but before he could Harry interjected once more. "Love to, but we can't. We have some meet and greets to attend to. You know, busy YouTuber things," Harry excused. He reversed back into his friends and placed an arm around each one. "Aw," she responded.

"But you go on ahead. Have a good time," Harry encouraged.

"Ok!" Kate immediately perked up.

It would've been better as a whole group, but this would be alright. Danny and her didn't get to hang out much anyways. She figured it'll be nice to catch up. "I probably should go ask," Kate said. She looked over to the fortunately dying crowd. This would be the perfect time to tell him. "Maybe we'll do something together tonight?" Kate asked. Harry nodded vehemently. His friends followed suit. Kate flashed the boys another smile. "Okie dokes, see you later then!" she piped. And with a twirl of her little skirt, she went off in Danny's direction.

After she was out of earshot, the boys turned to Harry in awe like he was some intelligent, handsome Roman emperor. "Nicely done, Harry," John complimented. Harry grinned. He did do a good job didn't he?

"So I guess that's your birthday gift, huh?" Julian asked. Harry shrugged. It was a pretty good gift. Danny gets one-on-one time with Summer? And she was going to pay for his dinner too? Man, he was smooth; so smooth, in fact, that there should be a waxing salon in his name. "Harry's Hairless Harem - taking you from muskrat to model in minutes." Nice ring to it, no?

But what if it didn't turn out so well? You never know in situations likes these. The dinner could turn sour real quick. Plus, was it even enough? After all, Harry did sort of forget to get Danny a present. "I should probably still get the flash mob just in case," Harry thought aloud. He brought up his phone to look up any nearby flash mobs; worse case scenario, he'd just tweet something out and plan a make-shift one instead. Upon hearing those words, Julian and John immediately lunged forward."NOOO!"


	12. Chapter 11: Step Up or Step Off

The restaurant was popping cause obviously, Harry knows his shit. The waitress finished taking their order and left to put them in. "That took you a while," Danny laughed. Kate shrugged. "There were a lot of choices," Kate replied.

Their surroundings were buzzing, especially for a chain-restaurant. The convention must've been doing wonders for this town, because the waiters and cooks looked like they've never been this busy before. "So what's up?" Kate asked, clasping her hands and leaning forward. Danny smiled. He could always count on Kate to give him completely undivided attention; granted it may be just because it's his birthday, but it still felt nice. "Enjoying Florida?" Kate asked.

"Hotter than expected, but nice," Danny replied.

"Are you talking about the girls or the weather?" Kate asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

Kate's joking remarks always put Danny to ease. As much as he hated to admit it, they made it seem like they were long-time friends that were just having their monthly catch-up. Every time she made a corny joke or something unintentionally funny, he smiled that sheepish smile that only managed to come out when he was with her.

"The weather," Danny laughed.

"Well, you did quite the crowd earlier," Kate informed with a sly grin appearing on her face.

"Oh you saw that?" Danny asked. He awkwardly smiled as he dialed his head down to the table, wishing he still had his menu to play with. So instead, Danny began messing with a dried up ketchup stain on the table.

Thankfully, Kate didn't even notice his sudden shy demeanor. "How could I not? They were practically the talk of the convention!" Kate exclaimed. Danny kept itching the stain at the table as he let out a polite laugh. The stain was becoming quite interesting at this point. There were all sorts of questions surrounding it. Why wasn't it coming off? Why did everyone think singing "Happy Birthday" outloud would be a good idea? How long has this stain been here? How did those people even find him? These thoughts circled around Danny's mind.

The attention was something Danny wasn't used to, and quite frankly, something he doubted he'd ever get used to. Sure, he'd love to be a household name one day after venturing out of the YouTube creative space, but by then he'd be ridiculously prepared for the press tours and the red carpets and the paparazzis. Right now, he was just a random Brit that started off by making videos in his room. He grew right in front of his audience- from filming on an old family camcorder, to his own DSLR, to now having people film whatever he directs them to. But he was still that same kid with the whimsical, chill music in the background and the ambient lighting that seemed a bit off but worked and the unmade bed in the background. That was Danny. That'd always be Danny, no matter how much attention he would receive.

He really did appreciate the thoughtfulness of the performance at the convention, but there were only a handful of other moments in his life that he'd felt that embarrassed. And they were all when he was about 10 years old. "You're practically a stud here, Danny," Kate teased. She leaned onto her folded hands and smirked. Seeing Danny squirm was actually quite hilarious. It wasn't often that she got to make cute boys feel this uncomfortable (at least not since the last Hot Guys video). No wonder those videos did so well; seeing cute boys sweat was definitely quite entertaining.

"It's...well, it's flattering," Danny managed to reply. Honestly, was it getting warm in here or was it just him? Kate laughed. "I'm only teasing, Danny. Besides, I'm sure the fans aren't only there for your pretty face." Danny finally stopped scratching at the blasted stain and looked up. He was met by Kate's signature smile and a playful wink. A heartbreaking wink that brought him back to reality. He was at a diner with a life-long friend, catching up. Nothing more. Probably less. But at least she distracted him from the stain for the rest of lunch. He inwardly sighed his acceptance of the situation.

"So how are you holding up?" Danny asked.

"Fine, why wouldn't I be?" Kate asked, perplexed.

"Well, dinner last night must've been weird."

"Oh, yeah…Actually, it wasn't too bad," Kate said smugly.

"Really?" Danny asked, genuinely surprised. Not too bad? Kate had just gone to dinner with her ex-flame, her best friend's ex-boyfriend, their current girlfriends, and their friends. And need I remind you that the last time Danny saw Kate, she was still completely traumatized from just making eye contact with Jordan. So to say that an entire evening being in Jordan's presence was "not bad" was saying something.

"Yes, Danny. I can take care of myself," Kate proclaimed, raising her chin up. Kate was satisfied with the strides she made last night. Not only was she able to be near Jordan and not freeze up, but she even talked to him. Hell, she made a joke! If her progress continued like this, she'd be back to her normal self in no time.

Danny raised an eyebrow at the confident girl across the table. Take care of herself? Yeah, cause she did such a good job the last time she saw him. Nicole had to _shove_ her off the damn bus! Danny smirked at the thought. "I _can_ take care of myself, Daniel," Kate reiterated.

Danny held up his hands in surrender, "I know! I know!" Kate pouted resignedly. Danny's mouth was saying that he knew, but his eyes were saying "yeah right, you're a giant wuss and we all know it". But since it was his birthday, Kate figured that she might as well let it go.

Meanwhile, across the room, another couple was discussing last night as well. "I don't know who they think they are. I mean, why did they have to make out in the middle of the hallway? PDA isn't so bad, but that was just plain disgusting," Ella ranted. She popped another bite of arugula in her mouth. The whole situation was leaving a bitter taste in her mouth, and it wasn't from her salad. Ethan told her this was going to be a fun and chill convention, not an excuse for people to make out with strangers. How close were these two anyways?

That was a question that was on both Ella and Ethan Banks's mind. As fucked up as it sounded, he still expected her to be moping around and heartbroken. That's the Nicole he figured he'd meet if he ever saw her again. Not _this-_ whoever this was. How could she change so quickly?

"And where did he even come from? I don't understand how she could just get a guy in less than 24 hours," Ella continued. _She's not even that pretty anyways._ Ella looked around the room. It's not like that guy was ugly either. Maybe the boys here just had weird taste. Most of the guys at the restaurant weren't even half decent. They were either old, young and on a date with a girl, or just straight up unattractive.

Ella continued with the sly digs in between each bite of her salad. Eventually she got the hint that Ethan wasn't fully paying attention and began keeping the comments more to herself.

Ethan couldn't help but be so wrapped up in his own thoughts. Nicole used to take up every inch of his mind back in the day. There were times when he couldn't stop talking to her. It wasn't always just one-sided right? She must've felt the same way. But even if she did, those feelings were obviously by now and if he needed any evidence of this, all he would have to do is think back to that hallway kiss.

Ethan shook his head in an attempt to knock that memory out of his head. No. He didn't want to think about that. Nicole had to have cared about him. She's just hiding it so well. But maybe if he could get some answers, he could stop torturing himself. If he could just talk to her, just this once and never again. He wanted to understand what's going on in her head, how she's feeling, why she kissed him back, if she ever felt the same way about him that he did about her.

Ethan shoved his plate of food away from himself and distracted himself with the patrons in the restaurant. There were quite a bit of couples at this restaurant; apparently it was a popular dating area. Would that guy bring Nicole here? This didn't seem like her kind of dinner. She would've wanted something a little more intimate and laid back, with a youthful vibe. Or at least, that's what she liked about that one place he took her to in London. Yeah, if anything, this place would be more along the lines of- _Kate_.

There she was; speak of the devil. Kate was sitting at a table across the room. She was with a guy that Ethan couldn't recognize. They seemed to be having a great conversation though, because their eyes were smiling. There didn't seem to be any intimidation or fear, just signs of the enjoyment of each other's company with no defenses or walls built up. Since Kate was in such a good mood, Ethan figured that maybe he could use this opportunity to get some much-needed information on Nicole.

The conversation at Danny and Kate's table had turned to different topics. It ranged from their new favorite bands all the way to their video history. "Really? I think some of your best work showcased your acting skills," Kate complimented.

"Much appreciated, but I just feel like it could be better," Danny confessed.

"How so? Any ideas?"

"Well, punching up the plotline would definitely help. But that requires a bigger budget and-"

"Well what else is this convention for!? I heard Ron Howard's going to do something with YouTubers; it'll probably be sponsored too. I'll ask around and see what's up," Kate replied with a grin.

This girl was too good to be true sometimes. She genuinely wanted him to succeed because she truly cared for him. Danny couldn't believe that Kate could be this sincerely invested into him. Honestly, who does that? They chatted for a few more minutes before he excused himself to the bathroom to check his phone. 14 missed calls from John and Julian, but none from Harry. This meant trouble.

This was Ethan's chance! Kate was all on her own. Ella was busily stabbing various pieces of lettuce before delicately placing it in her mouth. And Kate seemed to be happily nibbling at her own food. This was the perfect moment. Banksy McBanks Banks better ask fast. "I've got to go to the bathroom," Ethan Banks excused. Ella opened her mouth to protest, but it was too late. He quickly stood up from his chair and walked as fast as he could before Ella could even give him a glare.

Kate was enjoying herself through and through. The conversation was flowing, Danny didn't seem so down or embarrassed over his birthday, life was good. And it really was. Thinking back to last night, she would've never been able to be in the same room as Jordan and his crew but she survived an entire night at a table with them. Even though attending the convention was her idea, she had her doubts that they wouldn't be welcomed as warmly as they did. YouTube did get a bad rep of being too cliquey sometimes. But she's felt at ease and in her zone the last couple of days and nothing was going to change that anytime soon.

"Hey Kate!" Ethan Banks cheerfully greeted. Kate turned around to face the little bastard. He seemed to be all alone, very unlike Mister Banky McBanks. Kate scanned the room before returning her gaze onto him and sneered, "Where's your guard dog?"

Now, Ethan Banks may _look_ like Jordan Banks, but there was definite difference between the two. For one, Ethan eyes had absolutely no effect on her, they were too blue. Secondly, Kate did have the rather comforting knowledge that she could probably take him down if there was ever an actual fight. Not that it'd ever come to that. All Kate would have to do is bruise his ego enough for him to back off and that would be the end of it. In short, Ethan Banks presented absolutely no threat whatsoever, which allowed her to be as rude and condescending as he deserved.

Ethan Banks looked at her confusingly, unsure as to who Kate was referring to. After seeing that his mind wasn't going to connect the dots anytime soon, she clarified the remark. "Ella?" Kate explained. His eyes shot up upon the realization. "Ohh, she's back at the table," he informed. Kate humphed and took a sip of her water. This _was_ his cue to leave the table and return back to the ice queen, but, as usual, Ethan just didn't seem to get the hint. Or rather, he did get the hint but wasn't leaving until he did what he came for. The awkward silence let Ethan know that getting any kind of information out of her wasn't going to be easy. Giving up his small talk approach, he went straight in for the kill.

"So where's Nicole?" Ethan spat out. No sense in beating around the bush right? Kate's head slowly turned towards him. Her eyes narrowed. "Why do you want to know?" Kate retorted.

Ethan laughed nervously. "Just curious," he shrugged. Kate continued to glare at Ethan. Jordan was one thing, but Ethan had no right to be _anywhere_ _close_ to Nicole. Especially when she was finally starting to make progress and socialize again. Whatever plan Ethan may have concocted, Kate was determined to put an end to it as soon as possible.

Kate got up from her chair and stood in front of him; her face only a foot away from his. "You so much as even try to talk to her and you'll be vlogging from the nearest hospital," Kate threatened.

"Whoa, Kate. I'm not-"

"Nicole's just recovering from that mess you put her through all those years ago and I'm not about to let you just waltz in there and make her start over. Do you have any idea how hard it was for her to even _acknowledge_ this new guy? She hasn't been on a date in 2 years. She hardly wears anything other than black. And the only reason she started YouTube was to drown out the real world. So don't you dare come in here and throw away everything she's built so far. You stay away from her, Ethan Banks. And if I even see you walking in her direction-"

"Ok!" Ethan agreed, cutting Kate off.

Kate leaned back, arms crossed. She sized up her opponent before being satisfied with his answer. Kate turned back to her seat, leaving Ethan standing there like a fool. "You'd better get back before she comes looking for you. Wouldn't want to have another argument," Kate informed as she took another sip of water. Ethan was stunned, shellshocked, actually terrified. He believed every word Kate said about what would happen if he ever approached Nicole. He opened his mouth to try and help his case, but quickly closed it when he realized that the conversation was pretty much dead. No use in poking the beast. Ethan turned around and did the walk of shame back to his booth. So much for that plan...

 **Meanwhile...**

Nicole was wandering around the convention site, trying to clear her mind, trying to think properly again. The last 24 hours hasn't even seemed real, but it all happened. The invite, the dinner, the kiss. It was too much for anyone to handle, but especially frustrating for Nicole to go through.

Walking was always the best way for her to clear her mind. It was healthy and symbolic all at the same time. She had been in the best shape of her life after the breakup. She must've walked/ran 100 miles. She used it as an outlet to let go of her problems. And if she couldn't get over them, she'd run away from them. Literally. The convention center wasn't the most convenient place to start running, so walking without thinking of where you're going would suffice.

Nicole knew she would have to face Ethan soon. His events must be over and he'd probably be trying to find her right now. But she didn't have an answer for him, whatever that question was going to be.

Why didn't she have an answer? If she'd just go with her gut, she wouldn't be frustrated with herself. But if she went with her gut, there was a high chance she'd regret it in the end. Ugh. This was all too hard!

"Nicole!" someone screamed, making her jump and yelp. People around her gave her confused looks as she tried figuring out who called her so excitedly. Then she realized, there could only be two people in this city that had that effect on her.

"Oh, thank the Lord it's just you, Harry," she said. He approached her with a wide grin and a friendly wave. "I've been looking for you everywhere, where've you been?"

Nicole politely shrugged, after figuring it'd be best to not let him know everything that's going on in her head, especially if he was so close to "the problem".

"I've just been wandering around, looking at all of the booths that's around here. Why?"

"Well, _I_ personally haven't been looking for you. It's just that you haven't spoken to Ethan since last night and he's been-"

"Oh, I completely forgot I had to meet a friend for lunch!" Nicole suddenly cut him off and began to backtrack. Mentally, she was ready to run straight out of here and never stop until she reached California again. 2,508 miles should be enough space.

Harry opened his mouth to say more, but Nicole was already speed walking too far away for her to hear him. In a matter of seconds, Nicole briskly strut out of the convention center, leaving Harry standing there confused. "That girl _definitely_ needs a flash mob in her life."


End file.
